The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said on 5 Aug 2025 that it will wind down all messenger-RNA vaccine development financed through its Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. ordered the cancellation or downsizing of 22 contracts and pending solicitations, eliminating nearly $500 million in federal support for the technology that underpinned the rapid rollout of COVID-19 shots. Affected programmes include Moderna’s late-stage H5N1 bird-flu vaccine, pre-award proposals from Pfizer, Sanofi and CSL Seqirus, and projects at Gritstone, Emory University and Tiba Biotech. BARDA said a handful of agreements in their final phases—such as Arcturus’s bird-flu candidate—will be allowed to conclude so as not to waste prior taxpayer investment. Kennedy defended the decision by stating that available data show mRNA vaccines ‘fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu’ and that resources will be redirected to ‘safer, broader vaccine platforms’ and a planned universal respiratory-virus shot. Research funded by the National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense is not affected by the move. Public-health specialists and industry groups criticised the reversal, warning it risks slowing U.S. response times in future outbreaks and ceding leadership in a field now pursued aggressively in Europe and Asia. The announcement follows Kennedy’s earlier withdrawal of U.S. support for the global vaccine alliance Gavi, underscoring a broader shift in federal vaccine policy under the current administration.