HARWELL, England — When Wes Streeting, the U.K. health secretary, took the mic to mark the opening of a new Moderna manufacturing facility here on Wednesday, he noted that the celebration had attracted four government ministers. It was a sign, he said, of the enthusiasm for the country’s 10-year partnership with the U.S. biotech.

But the ribbon-cutting ceremony — complete with oversized scissors — also gave the government a chance to show support for something else: mRNA products.

In recent months, U.K. officials and researchers have been aiming to position the country as a hub of mRNA activity — the kind that is at the heart of Moderna’s work — embracing the pioneering technology at a time when U.S. health agencies, under health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., are cutting off fundin

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