WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Health and Human Services plans to cancel contracts and pull funding for some vaccines being developed to fight respiratory viruses like COVID-19 and the flu. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday that $500 million worth of vaccine development projects using mRNA technology will be halted. The 22 projects are led by major pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer and Moderna. These mRNA vaccines are credited with slowing the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. In a social media video, Kennedy said HHS was “prioritizing the development of safer, broader vaccine strategies, like whole-virus vaccines and novel platforms that don’t collapse when viruses mutate.”
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