American Lung Assn 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.