A superpower like America can lose its edge in many ways — to outside enemies, to internal division, or even by sabotaging itself. Sabotage is what just happened when Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. suddenly canceled nearly $500 million in mRNA vaccine research. Not paused, not reviewed, but killed. Twenty-two cutting-edge projects are gone with one ignorant man wiping out years of scientific progress.
The mRNA vaccines aren’t just a COVID success story. They’re a revolutionary new way to rapidly make vaccines and drugs to fight deadly diseases — they’re the tool that scientists used to make safe, effective COVID vaccines in record time, saving millions of lives. This mRNA technology can revolutionize other medical therapies including cancer treatment too, and we are abandoning it for no reason.
Kennedy is either delusional or lying. The truth is clear — the mRNA vaccines reduced COVID illness and death faster and more safely than any technology in history. His plan isn’t about science. It’s about politics.
The Trump administration is making a huge mistake that will slow scientific progress in America and hurt our national security. Meanwhile, Europe and China are leaping ahead with massive investments in mRNA and gene-editing tech to make next-in generation vaccines and other drugs. Although America has been a leader in biomedical research, now we are abandoning our lead and retreating.
This is sabotage, plain and simple, and a reckless gamble with our future. The cost will be measured in lives because another pandemic will inevitably come someday. By ending mRNA research, we will be slower, less prepared, less secure, and more vulnerable — with more people dying because of one man’s foolish and ignorant beliefs.
Why would a sane society ever allow this to happen in our country? It is foolish and wrong. We can’t let this betrayal of Americans and America stand. Please write to your congressional representatives to tell them how serious a mistake this is, and to demand to get it fixed.
Lawrence Pareles, MD
Florence