U.S. Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., in an Anchorage news conference last week, justified his decision to cancel about $500 million in federal funding for mRNA vaccine development by claiming that the vaccine developed to fight COVID-19 actually “prolonged the pandemic.”

“The mRNA vaccines, you know from COVID, don’t work,” he said, contradicting medical experts, at the news conference, held Aug. 5 at the Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium headquarters in Anchorage.

Kennedy pointed to the COVID-19 virus mutating, “to which the vaccine was ineffective.” 

But that led to the development of adapted vaccines to target variants like the Omicron virus, beginning in 2022, that were shown to be effective in preventing infection and severe disease.  

Vaccines work by prompting the body’s natural immune response to fight infection. Kennedy repeated his questionable claims casting doubt on the science of vaccines and said the Trump administration is “putting major funding” toward the National Institute of Health to develop a “universal vaccine.”

“We’re going to fund that money. We’re going to shift that money to develop universe vaccines that are much better technology, much safer,” he said in Anchorage. 

In a social media post, the president of the American Medical Association criticized the cancellation and countered Kennedy’s claims.

“COVID-19 vaccines using mRNA technology helped save countless lives during the pandemic. We urge the administration to continue vital research to improve mRNA vaccines, not throw the baby out with the bathwater by effectively preventing research from moving forward,” Dr. Bobby Mukkamala, the organization’s president, said in a post on X.

An estimated 2.5 million lives were saved by COVID-19 vaccines globally from 2020 to 2024, according to a study by the Journal of American Medical Association. Scientists whose work led to development of the mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 won a Nobel Prize in 2023.

Also at the Anchorage news conference, Kennedy reiterated his more general criticism of vaccines administered to children. He falsely claimed they are untested and that the department plans to now do randomized testing to check their safety, although all vaccines have already been tested before federal approval.

COVID vaccines have to go through three phases of clinical trials, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, to make sure they are safe and effective, especially against severe illness, hospitalization and death.  

Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, who also spoke at the press conference, defended vaccines and repeated some earlier criticism of Kennedy’s decision to fire members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, or ACIP.

“I am a strong believer that vaccines save lives,” she said.

Parents and patients should have “quality, unbiased scientific backing” for vaccines, she said. “I think this is where the advisory boards that provide for recommendations for the vaccines are important and that the credibility of those boards is really held intact.”

Firing the entire board and bringing in new members “challenges the credibility of the advisory board itself,” the senator said.

National medical organizations, including the American Medical Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics, have strongly criticized of Kennedy’s decision to fire the board members.

In an Aug. 1 statement, eight organizations blasted Kennedy’s decision to exclude them from the vaccine advisory committee.

“For decades, liaisons from our organizations have reviewed published and unpublished data and literature related to vaccine efficacy, effectiveness, and safety and provided unbiased input for ACIP’s consideration. To remove our deep medical expertise from this vital and once transparent process is irresponsible, dangerous to our nation’s health, and will further undermine public and clinician trust in vaccines,” said the statement.

The Alaska Beacon is an independent, donor-funded news organization. Alaskabeacon.com.