THE US Department of Health will cancel contracts and pull funding for some vaccines that are being developed to fight respiratory viruses like Covid-19 and the flu.

US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jnr announced in a statement on Tuesday night that 22 projects, totalling $500 million (£375m), to develop vaccines using mRNA technology will be halted.

Mr Kennedy has already pulled back recommendations around Covid-19 vaccines, fired the panel that makes vaccine recommendations, and refused to offer a vigorous endorsement of vaccinations as a measles outbreak worsened.

The veteran conspiracy theorist criticised mRNA vaccines in a video on social media today, claiming his latest decision was being led by the leading pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer and Moderna, that sell protection against viruses like the flu, Covid-19 and H5N1.

“To replace the troubled mRNA programmes, we’re prioritising the development of safer, broader vaccine strategies, like whole-virus vaccines and novel platforms that don’t collapse when viruses mutate,” he said in the video.

Infectious disease experts say the mRNA technology used in vaccines is safe, and they credit its development during the first Trump administration with slowing the 2020 coronavirus pandemic. Future pandemics, they warned, will be harder to stop without the help of mRNA.

“I don’t think I’ve seen a more dangerous decision in public health in my 50 years in the business,” said Mike Osterholm, a University of Minnesota expert on infectious diseases and pandemic preparations.

The shelving of the mRNA projects is short-sighted as concerns about a bird flu pandemic continue to loom, said Dr Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.

“It’s certainly saved millions of lives,” Mr Offit said of the existing mRNA vaccines.