Doherty Institute head slams Robert F Kennedy Jr’s vaccine cuts
The head of Australia’s leading infection and immunity research institute has a scathing warning about the impact of US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr’s vaccine cuts.
The head of Australia’s leading infection and immunity research institute says the decision by the US health and human services secretary to strip $500 million in funding for work on mRNA vaccines is an “unprecedented” setback for science.
University of Melbourne Professor Sharon Lewin is the inaugural director of the Doherty Institute. It was at the Doherty Institute in 2020 that scientists first isolated the virus that causes COVID-19 and shared it globally.
She joins a chorus of scientists worldwide warning that the decision by US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr is dangerous and ill-informed.
It includes the Alliance for mRNA Medicines who said: “Secretary Kennedy’s unscientific and misguided vilification of mRNA technology and cancellation of grants is the epitome of cutting off your nose to spite your face”.
Secretary Kennedy, a prominent vaccine sceptic, took control of America’s healthcare system in February.
In August he scrapped the funding for 22 mRNA-related vaccine investments in the US because he said they had “failed to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like Covid and the flu”.
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Professor Lewin writes the impact of this decision won’t just be felt in the US, it is a blow for health and science globally.
Melbourne is home to the southern hemisphere’s only mRNA manufacturing facility. Moderna’s facility can produce up to 100 million vaccine doses a year for respiratory diseases.
The US funding cuts do not impact its Australian operations or BioNTech’s clinical mRNA manufacturing facility, also in Melbourne.
A Victorian government spokesman said it remained focused on building a world-class mRNA ecosystem in Melbourne.
“We are continuing to scale up Victoria’s mRNA industry,” the spokesman said. “We are backing mRNA Victoria’s work … including new funding in this year’s budget to fund agriculture mRNA research programs.”
Professor Lewin said mRNA vaccines were invaluable during the COVID-19 pandemic, providing protection against becoming sick from SARS-CoV-2 infection and reducing deaths.
mRNA are like a messenger that disappears after it has done it job, which is to train our immune system to recognise an infection like Covid. It tells cells to make a harmless protein that mimics part of the virus.
Professor Lewin said that while no vaccine was perfect the data was overwhelmingly clear: “during the pandemic, mRNA vaccines saved millions of lives and prevented severe disease for many more around the globe. Without them, the death toll would have been unimaginably higher, and the economic and social damage of COVID-19 even more severe”.
Professor John Carroll, Dean of Biomedical Sciences and Director, of the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute said mRNA vaccines “rescued us during the pandemic”.
“And mRNA therapeutics more broadly provide great hope for the future in a wide spectrum of diseases including cancer,” he said.
“Pulling funding from mRNA vaccines would put a huge brake on research and development by all US-based mRNA biotech companies, big and small.
“For anyone wishing to invest in mRNA therapeutic development the message should be clear that Australia is open for business and has a strong mRNA R & D base and clinical trial capability.”
Last week the Food and Drug Administration, responsible for protecting public health in the US, approved updated Covid vaccines but has imposed new restrictions on eligibility.
READ HER SCATHING OPINION PIECE BELOW:
In a series of unprecedented setbacks for science, the United States Department of Health and Human Services recently announced plans to cut US$500m (AU$767m) in funding for mRNA vaccine research.
The impact of this decision won’t just be felt in the US, it is a blow for health and science globally.
mRNA vaccines were invaluable during the Covid-19 pandemic, providing protection against becoming sick from SARS-CoV-2 infection and reducing deaths.
Although other vaccines were also developed quickly, mRNA had several unique features that made and continue to make this approach very attractive. They can be designed and manufactured rapidly and can also be tweaked, for example to adjust for new variants. In fact, the only vaccine now available for new variants of Covid-19 is an mRNA vaccine.
Of course, no vaccine is perfect. Covid-19 mRNA vaccines, like other vaccines, are better at preventing people from getting sick, but not as effective at preventing every infection.
But the data is overwhelmingly clear: during the pandemic, mRNA vaccines saved millions of lives and prevented severe disease for many more around the globe.
Without them, the death toll would have been unimaginably higher, and the economic and social damage of Covid-19 even more severe.
The safety record of mRNA vaccines for Covid-19 is also now well established. Billions of doses have been administered worldwide, with side effects carefully tracked and reported. While there are some adverse effects of mRNA vaccines, these are extremely rare and similar levels to other vaccines.
What makes the US cuts so disappointing, is that Covid-19 mRNA vaccines are just the tip of the iceberg of what mRNA technology can do.
To understand the power and potential of this technology, it’s important to understand what it does and how it works. mRNA is simply an instruction manual for our cells, directing them to produce something new. For example, the instructions could be to make a small protein that mimics a virus to stimulate an effective immune response when you meet the real thing, or they could be a far more complicated instruction, such as to kill cancer cells.
The potential applications of mRNA therefore go far beyond Covid-19. Researchers are already trialling mRNA therapies for cancer, for auto-immune conditions like type 1 diabetes, and even to cure HIV and improve influenza vaccines.
While the US is winding back research and investment in mRNA, many countries, including Australia, Germany and South Korea are racing ahead and investing heavily in mRNA manufacturing and research. Australia now has multiple companies capable of producing mRNA products, including CSL, Moderna and other smaller biotechs. Our leaders and leaders of other nations recognise that whoever leads in mRNA innovation will also lead in future biotech industries.
Unfortunately, the ripple effects of the US funding cuts will be felt everywhere; from stalled international collaborations and slower innovation, to delayed access to treatments for all diseases and a weaker level of pandemic preparedness globally.
However, as the US steps back, nations like Australia must be ready to step up. But to do so, we need targeted funding for early-stage discovery and translational research, alongside incentives that build an entrepreneurial culture.
Otherwise, as a country, we will excel at generating great ideas but not be able to turn these ideas into products that improve health outcomes and build new industries.
Last week, Susan Monarez, Director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was sacked, followed by other senior figures who resigned or were also fired. In their parting statements, they warned that in the US, vaccine recommendations were being dismantled, expert voices silenced and public health undermined for political reasons. The world, including Australia, has relied on the CDC for decades as the go-to institution for public health response and innovation. These changes should concern everyone and every country. A world without an effective CDC is a much less safe world.
We know another pandemic will come. When it does, we will want the best science in the world on our side. We will want vaccines that can be designed and delivered at speed. And we will want to know that our governments invested wisely in preparing for that day.
For that, we need mRNA, and we need to stand behind the science.
Professor Sharon Lewin is Director of The Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity
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Originally published as Doherty Institute head slams Robert F Kennedy Jr’s vaccine cuts
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