his decision leaves us more exposed during the next influenza shift
This week, the FDA declined to even consider Moderna’s application to license its new mRNA influenza vaccine.
This, despite strong clinical trial results. Those results, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, which found that Moderna’s mRNA flu vaccine was more than 20% more effective than a traditionally produced influenza vaccine in adults.
So why refuse to even review it?
Kennedy has made no secret of his opposition to mRNA technology. He has publicly criticized mRNA vaccines… not only for infectious diseases, but also as a promising platform for cancer treatments, including pancreatic cancer. He also directed the National Institutes of Healthto cancel hundreds of millions of dollars in mRNA-related research grants.
Most traditional influenza vaccines are grown in fertilized chicken eggs. That process takes months. Scientists must first find the strain, adapt it to grow in eggs, scale up production, purify it, and distribute it. It works… but it’s slow.
mRNA vaccines are different. Once scientists know the genetic sequence of a new influenza strain, they can design and produce an mRNA vaccine in weeks.
That difference in speed could be decisive if a big late Southern Hemisphere antigenic shift.
If (when) we experience a major antigenic shift… especially one that appears during the Southern Hemisphere winter (our summer) we face a compressed timeline before the Northern Hemisphere flu season begins. With egg-based vaccines, we won’t have enough time to develop, produce, and distribute a matched vaccine before the virus spreads widely.
An mRNA platform could respond far faster. That means a better chance of having an updated, protective vaccine ready in time.
Refusing to even review a more effective and more adaptable flu vaccine increases our vulnerability during the next three years.
Kennedy’s blocking of this technology does more than stall one product. It signals to researchers and investors that the US is no longer a stable environment for mRNA innovation. That delays advances mRNA not only in infectious disease prevention but also in cancer treatment and other therapeutic areas.
And yet… scientific progress has a long arc. mRNA technology has already proven its value. Researchers across the globe continue to advance use of this promising technology. When leadership changes and Kennedy is finally gone, research momentum will return.
Public health preparation depends on evidence, speed, and flexibility. Turning away from a faster, more effective influenza vaccine (without even reviewing the application) is foolish.
Yet – that’s the world we’re living in (for now).
