Scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) have been urged to strike all references to mRNA vaccines from grant applications out of concerns that they could be flagged or rejected by the Trump administration. Acting NIH Director Matthew Memoli emailed all agency staff ordering them to report any grants, contracts, or collaborations involving mRNA vaccines to Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the White House.
Memoli had previously cancelled research into vaccine hesitancy, telling staff by email that NIH was no longer interested in learning why people choose not to vaccinate or finding ways to improve vaccination rates. In reference to the latest email from Memoli, a senior official at the National Cancer Institute said that “it is reasonable to assume mRNA vaccine work is next.” Others have echoed that fear, including a scientist at a biomedical research center who told a colleague that an NIH officer had “flagged our pending grant as having an mRNA vaccine component.”
The NIH is currently funding at least 130 studies of mRNA technology in Covid vaccines that have been administered to billions of people across the globe.