Last month, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) cancelled $500 million in funding for mRNA vaccine research and development. This decision will have devastating consequences for public health and goes against the science, which has demonstrated the efficacy of mRNA vaccines. Though mRNA medicine has only recently entered the public spotlight for its use in developing COVID-19 vaccines, mRNA research is decades old. Applications for mRNA medicine have previously been studied for flu, rabies and other diseases.
Messenger RNA, or mRNA, is a genetic material that tells the body what proteins to make and how to make them. For example, COVID-19 mRNA vaccines direct the body to make a harmless piece of the protein found on the COVID-19 virus, triggering an immune response. Once the body has developed antibodies from the immune response, it’s better prepared to protect itself from the actual virus. Vaccines developed with mRNA have been shown to prevent severe disease and help prevent Long COVID, hospitalization and death.
How mRNA Vaccines Helped End the COVID-19 Pandemic
Many people first heard of mRNA when vaccines were developed to address the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Since then, hundreds of millions of individuals in the United States have received a COVID-19 vaccination, significantly protecting individuals from serious illness, complications, hospitalization and death. According to CDC data from 2023, unvaccinated individuals were six times more likely to be hospitalized and 12 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than those who were fully vaccinated and boosted. Unfortunately, COVID-19 continues to pose a significant threat to public health, leading to 260,000-400,000 hospitalizations between fall 2024 to spring 2025, and over 11,500 deaths this year alone.
Potential uses of mRNA are not limited to respiratory diseases. Emerging research shows that mRNA medicine may also be used to fight cancers, including lung cancer. For example, researchers funded by the American Lung Association are working to develop mRNA molecules that can shrink lung tumors.
Vaccine development and distribution is the first line of defense for preventing infectious disease outbreaks. By pulling funding for mRNA research and development, HHS is both severely limiting promising research and making it less likely that the United States will be prepared for a future health crisis, impacting our national security. mRNA technology reduces the timeline for producing vaccines versus other vaccine technologies, making them an important tool in pandemic preparedness. Among recently cancelled projects are grants for developing pre-pandemic flu vaccines and H1N5 bird flu vaccines. Between October 2024 and May 2025, the CDC estimates that there were between 610,000 and 1.3 million hospitalizations and 27,000-130,000 deaths caused by influenza, highlighting the ongoing dangers posed by the disease.
HHS’s cuts to mRNA research are part of a larger effort by HHS to shift federal vaccine policy. In May, HHS ceased recommending the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant individuals, despite pregnancy being a risk factor for severe illness, vaccination during pregnancy providing protective antibodies to the infant and 50% of children hospitalized with COVID-19 from July 2023-March 2024 having no underlying medical condition. In June, Secretary Kennedy replaced the entire Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices, a panel of experts that recommends vaccines to CDC, with new members with strong ties to the anti-vaccine movement. These changes represent a dangerous shift away from rigorous, evidence-based policymaking.
The bottom line is that these federal funding cuts jeopardize decades of progress in understanding and preventing respiratory diseases affecting millions of Americans. The Lung Association will advocate for Congress and the Administration to continue to make a strong and sustained investment in biomedical research because lives depend on it.
Blog last updated: September 17, 2025
