When asked about cancellations in grants to cancer and other vaccine research, Kennedy said he authorized funding in cancer vaccines and a universal flu vaccine—“so I’m not anti-vaccine. The $500 million that we cancelled were for vaccines that don’t work…mRNA, we now know, does not work for respiratory illnesses” (a claim that not supported by scientific evidence). Baldwin later challenged Kennedy’s statement about the effectiveness of mRNA vaccines, submitting a New England Journal of Medicine paper into the record countering his claim.
Senator Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire asked Kennedy about funds that HHS is holding that are owed to GAVI, the global public-private organization that provides vaccines for children around the world. Congress approved $300 million for the group, but “it is your department, and you personally, who is holding up funding for GAVI,” Shaheen told Kennedy. He acknowledged he had concerns about providing the funding, including that GAVI provides funds to the World Health Organization, to which the U.S. no longer belongs after Trump withdrew, and that GAVI uses an older version of the diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine. But he agreed to appoint someone from HHS to work with Shaheen’s office to resolve the GAVI payment. “When 1.5 million children are at stake, it seems to me like those are issues that we ought to be able to resolve,” she said.
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