The U.S. government has retracted nearly half a billion dollars in grants and contracts for mRNA vaccine research, showcasing an anti-vaccine stance under Secretary of HHS Robert F. Kennedy Jr. This change signals a larger COVID-revenge campaign targeting the initial pandemic response and its key figures. Former Trump appointees now lead efforts to dismantle previous health policies, including dismissing significant advisory officials. The backlash against the COVID response signifies a broader political strategy against established vaccine protocols and public health initiatives.
With Kennedy leading HHS, this about-face is easy to parse as yet another anti-vaccine move. But the assault on mRNA is also proof of another kind of animus: the COVID-revenge campaign that top officials in this administration have been pursuing for months.
The COVID revenge has defined the second Trump administration's health policy from the beginning. Kennedy and his allies have ousted prominent HHS officials who played key roles in the development of COVID policy.
As the immediacy of the COVID crisis receded, public anger about the American response to it took deeper root-perhaps most prominently among some critics who are now Trump appointees.
Dorit's Reiss emphasizes, 'It is leverage, it is a way to justify doing things that he wouldn't be able to get away with otherwise,' illustrating how this animus serves political maneuvering.
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