Name: Nobel Prize winner for mRNA vaccine reacts to US slashing development funding
Uploaded: 2025-08-10T01:28:03.000Z
Duration: 6 min 50 s
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mRNA vaccines were hailed as medical breakthroughs in the fight against Covid.

Now the US Department of Health and Human Services is slashing a half billion dollars in government funding for mRNA vaccine development.

Twenty-two projects will be shelved with future vaccine efforts going to other platforms like whole virus vaccines.

Kennedy Jr. says mRNA vaccines don't offer effective protection against upper respiratory infections like Covid and flu.

Medical evidence shows they do help prevent severe disease and death from Covid and show promise against influenza.

She is a biochemist and researcher who was jointly awarded the 2023 Nobel Peace Prize for Medicine for work involving mRNA technology used in the first wave of Covid vaccines.

I want to begin by asking as someone who has dedicated decades to advancing mRNA technology and as I've just mentioned has won a Nobel Prize for that contribution.

What is your reaction to the Trump administration's decision to cancel nearly half a billion dollars of mRNA funding today?

Definitely the global progress of vaccine development and the global progress of science suffered tremendously and I am very disappointed but you know what we can do and that's what I always ask myself you know when I was in Hungary and then I moved to the United States and then when I couldn't do things here then I moved another country to Germany so you know that's what I am thinking that what the scientists can do now.

I just want to ask you about the HHS, Robert F.

Kennedy Jr. saying that vaccines don't offer effective protection against upper respiratory infections like Covid and flu.

This is one of their core reasons for diverting funding away from this technology.

What is your response to that and the efficacy of this vaccine in treating that?

So obviously you know when you are sick you wouldn't ask advice from a lawyer like Kennedy.

You know you ask experts, your physician for advice and obviously he is misinformed and and do not understand that you know science is knowledge which was you know around the world and we collected those with observation, experimentation, measurements and all of the scientific evidence and you know when you just reject and rely on misinformation then you make a decision like he made which is you know false based on false information and so I am thinking what we can do as a scientist and you know I already thought about for from January that we have to educate the public, help out you know understanding that we are scientists is one of them and we are dedicating all our life to advanced science and what science means.

You've just spoken about the fact that you had to move away from Hungary in order to continue your research in mRNA.

I mean the US Health Secretary we know is a long time vaccine sceptic.

This policy is not likely to change any time soon therefore what will your next moves be?

I mean I am already 70 years old so I don't know much but you know I can see that what the I did you know when you know move to another country you know in Europe or in Asia, in Japan, in China you know where messenger RNA research is advancing and in many of the clinical trials are running there and so what I have done you know 40 years ago pack in, leave all the loved behind and move to the to here to the United States and when I couldn't do here you know what I wanted I moved to Germany so that might be the solution those scientists who want to advance you know they might move in another country and of course you know when science and knowledge here is under attack and funding is low you know it is really the next generation will suffer the most you know.

Yeah and on that note I mean how does a move like this impact vaccine development not just in the US but globally?

Obviously you know the United States was a power in in science and it's still but you know we can see that other part of the world is advancing and of course it will hurt tremendously and you know when we have the next pandemic you know we have to beg other countries to help us out because obviously the messenger RNA vaccine can be developed quickly and very effective and so that's what we will rely on to help out from China and from European countries when next time we have a pandemic.

I mean the concern is that we will face another pandemic like COVID sometime soon in our future.

How do you think the US health system would react in its current state as and when that happens?

You know I don't know what will happen but obviously you know globally we have other countries strong science is ongoing and you know it will be strengthened by American scientists who will move to other countries just like many of us you know packed in and left and you know maybe that's how we could keep the science going because that's what we as a scientific thinking you know we have just one life and then what we can do and I can see these two things that advancing then you have to move and then we have to educate the American public about what the scientists are doing and who we are as a scientist.