Federal mRNA funding cut is ‘most dangerous public health decision’ ever, expert says | PBS News

Dr. Michael Osterholm: Well, first of all, we have all just been through a pandemic, and we did see what, in fact, the COVID vaccine could do to reduce serious illness, hospitalizations, and deaths.

But the other kind of pandemic that we're very concerned about and you noted in the lead-in with regard to bird flu and the possibility that it could be the next influenza pandemic virus. Right now, globally, we have the ability to make enough vaccine in about 15 months after an influenza pandemic started to actually vaccinate only about one-fourth of the entire world.

We're still using the 1950s process using embryonated chicken eggs to grow the virus in. That would be an utter failure. Now, with the mRNA technology, we believe we could probably have enough vaccine for the whole world within a year, and it would make a big difference.

This is a vaccine that would surely be every bit as equivalent of what we currently have, if not better. So, there's just one example of where mRNA technology can be helpful. We have a number of other infectious diseases right now, including some cancer vaccine work that is being done within the scientific community…
https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/federal-mrna-funding-cut-is-most-dangerous-public-health-decision-ever-expert-says