TORONTO – Canadian doctors and scientists say Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s defunding of mRNA vaccine research and development projects will have negative health effects in Canada and around the world.

“I think that Canadians do need to understand that this and a lot of the changes that Kennedy is making to vaccination policy in particular are definitely going to affect Canadians,” said Angela Rasmussen, a virologist at the University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization.

Unlike other vaccines, mRNA vaccines can be made very quickly. They can also be easily modified to fight new viruses and adapt to changing strains — something that we saw as new variants emerged during the COVID-19 pandemic, Rasmussen said.

That ability is critical as the world prepares for H5N1 bird flu as a possible next pandemic, she said, but the removal of the enormous funding power of the U.S. puts global mRNA vaccine development at risk.

“We will be delayed trying to make any vaccine should another virus emerge, including H5N1, which is one of my biggest concerns right now.”