‘People are going to die’: Ex-surgeon general warns on RFK Jr.’s vaccine cut

Former U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams says the nation faces serious public health risks from Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to end federal funding for mRNA vaccine development. In a Sunday interview with CBS News, Adams also denounced Kennedy’s delayed response to an armed assault on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) headquarters.

Vaccine cuts puts public at risk

Adams — the top U.S. health official during President Donald Trump’s first term — told Margaret Brennan on “Face the Nation” that Kennedy’s move to halt $500 million in research on mRNA technology, the same platform used to develop COVID-19 vaccines, could put lives at risk.

“We know that by the most conservative estimates, over 2 million lives have been saved because of mRNA technology,” Adams said. “People are going to die because we’re cutting short funding for this technology.” 

In an announcement on Aug. 5, Kennedy said the department, through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, would end 22 mRNA vaccine projects. He cited data that he said indicates the vaccines have not prevented upper respiratory infections such as COVID-19 and the flu.

“Let me be absolutely clear: HHS supports safe, effective vaccines for every American who wants them,” Kennedy said last week. “That’s why we’re moving beyond the limitations of mRNA and investing in better solutions.”

Many public health experts disagreed with Kennedy’s assessment of the vaccines, and Adams said it could have taken an extra 18 to 24 months to produce a COVID-19 vaccine without mRNA technology. 

Previously, Adams said, the fastest vaccine using older whole-virus methods took six years to develop. He called the COVID vaccine development one of the most significant achievements of Trump’s presidency.

Shooting near CDC raises questions

Adams also criticized Kennedy over his “tepid” response to Friday’s shooting outside the CDC offices in Atlanta. Authorities said a man opened fire on the CDC campus and killed a police officer who was called to the scene. The gunman reportedly believed he was ill because of the COVID-19 vaccine he had received. 

Kennedy issued a 109-word statement the following day saying no one should be harmed while working to protect the public.

But as the official overseeing the CDC, Adams said, Kennedy had a responsibility to respond quickly to incidents of violence. 

“How you respond to a crisis defines a leader, and quite frankly, Secretary Kennedy has failed in his first major test in this regard,” Adams said. 

“It took him over 18 hours to issue a tepid response to these horrific shootings, and that’s not even considering how his inflammatory rhetoric in the past have actually contributed to a lot of what’s been going on,” Adams added.

Adams noted that Kennedy promised during his presidential campaign last year to “drain the cesspool at the CDC” and to hold people there accountable. 

“He still has not unequivocally condemned the violence,” Adams said. “He said no one should be harmed while working to protect the public. … If you don’t believe that people are working to protect the public, then that means it’s OK to commit violence, at least in some people’s eyes.”