The US government’s reversal of mRNA vaccine research funding is not just a personal attack on anti-vaccination advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but also part of a broader “COVID revenge” campaign that has been underway since the second Trump administration took office. By canceling nearly half a billion dollars’ worth of grants and contracts for mRNA-vaccine research, the move can be seen as leverage to justify further undermining vaccine policies.
This latest development is just one example of how public anger about the American response to COVID-19 has become an essential tool in Kennedy’s efforts to undermine vaccines. The “COVID revenge” campaign has been defined by the ouster of prominent health officials and scientists, including those at the National Institutes of Health, who played key roles in developing COVID policy.
The campaign also includes dismissing members of the CDC Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and hand-picking replacements who have repeatedly criticized COVID policies. Additionally, funding for hundreds of COVID-related grants has been terminated, and the NIH’s independent grant-awarding powers have been restricted. These actions are part of a broader agenda to spread misinformation about the origins of COVID-19 and restrict vaccine development.
The impact of this campaign is already being felt, with many experts citing it as proof of an “anti-vaccine” animus that has taken root in top Trump officials. As Dorit Reiss, a vaccine-law expert at UC Law San Francisco, notes, “It is leverage… a way to justify doing things that he wouldn’t be able to get away with otherwise.”
Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2025/08/covid-revenge/683853