RFK Jr is wrong about mRNA vaccines – a scientist explains how they make COVID less deadlyUS health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr has announced he is cancelling US$500 million (£374 million) of research into mRNA vaccines, citing unproven concerns about their safety and long-term effects.Kennedy has claimed that mRNA vaccines “encourage new mutations and can actually prolong pandemics” – a misleading statement that contradicts the scientific consensus on viral evolution and effects of vaccination.
But scientific research shows that mRNA vaccines have saved millions of lives.
As an immunologist, I’ve spent years studying how the body responds to SARS-CoV-2 and other respiratory viruses. Let’s be clear: there is no credible evidence that mRNA vaccines cause viral mutations – genetic changes that occur as a virus copies itself – or that they’re ineffective against respiratory infections like COVID-19 or flu. These claims misrepresent both how viruses evolve and how vaccines actually work.
RFK Jr is wrong about mRNA vaccines – a scientist explains how they make COVID less deadly
Viruses mutate all the time. Vaccines don’t cause this – they help filter which strains survive.The Conversation