The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has terminated 22 federally funded mRNA vaccine projects worth roughly $500 million, according to an announcement made earlier this month by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The contracts, managed through BARDA, focused mainly on next-generation respiratory vaccines for COVID-19 and influenza. Kennedy said the platform “fails to protect effectively against upper-respiratory infections” and pledged to redirect resources toward what he called safer, broader-acting technologies. National Institutes of Health Director Jay Bhattacharya offered a different rationale, saying the investments were halted because the public “does not trust” the mRNA platform. The conflicting explanations intensified criticism from researchers who argue the technology has already saved millions of lives and remains central to pandemic preparedness. Former Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams warned that “people are going to die” as a result of the pullback, citing estimates that mRNA vaccines have prevented at least two million U.S. deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic. Industry groups and academic scientists said the cancellations risk derailing promising work on cancer, HIV and universal flu vaccines, while venture investors signaled greater caution about backing U.S. mRNA startups. Fallout inside the department has begun: Alastair Thomson, chief data officer of ARPA-H, resigned in protest, calling the decision “stupid.” Critics also noted that China and other countries are expanding public support for the same technology the United States is abandoning, potentially eroding U.S. leadership in advanced biologics. Even as the cuts took effect, HHS on Aug. 14 revived a childhood-vaccine safety task force that had been dormant since 1998, installing Bhattacharya as chair and pledging a first report to Congress within two years. Supporters say the panel will improve oversight; opponents contend it placates anti-vaccine activists while the department simultaneously withdraws from a key platform that many scientists view as essential to future public-health security.