Faster, Please! · Economics & Policy
TIER 4 Wed, 18 Feb 2026 23:53:10 +0000
How vaccine skepticism still threatens America's health and a new age of biotechnological progress ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ ͏ | | ---|---|--- | | | Forwarded this email? Subscribe here for more --- _This is a free edition of_ _**Faster, Please!**_ ,_my regular newsletter about creating a better America and world by accelerating scientific discovery, technological progress, and commercial innovation. (And creating a pro-progress culture.) If you enjoy it and find it helpful in any way, please consider buying a subscription to the twice-weekly regular issues that include in-depth essays, Q &As with smart people, and summaries of relevant news stories. _ Upgrade to paid * * * # 🧬 The FDA's Moderna mRNA reversal ### How vaccine skepticism still threatens America's health and a new age of biotechnological progress | | James Pethokoukis --- | Feb 18 --- | --- --- | | | --- | | --- | | --- | | --- | | READ IN APP --- | | ---|---|--- **My fellow pro-growth/progress/abundance Up Wingers in the USA and around the world:** As _Conservative Futurist_ book readers know, I date the start of Up Wing 1.0--America's lengthy postwar, pro-progress period--to 1955. It marked the ignition of the Space Age and Space Race with President Eisenhower's July announcement of a scientific satellite program, prompting the Soviets to respond in kind and setting in motion the competition that would eventually put American astronauts on the Moon. It also saw the defeat of one of America's most feared diseases, with the announcement of Jonas Salk's polio vaccine on April 12. The date marked the tenth anniversary of the death of FDR, who contracted polio when he was 39. So it would have been a wonderful parallel had Up Wing 3.0 (Up Wing 2.0 was the late-1990s tech boom) clearly started in 2020 with two other advances in space and medicine: the first crewed launch of a commercially built spacecraft to orbit--SpaceX's Crew Dragon, carried aloft by the company's Falcon 9 rocket--and the emergency authorization of the first highly effective mRNA COVID vaccines, accelerated by the public-private push of Operation Warp Speed. #### Jab and retreat Now, if we have indeed begun Up Wing 3.0, that designation will likely depend most on how generative AI plays out across business and science. But a disturbing, Down Wing factor has been the rise of vaccine skepticism in the US. This from earlier today: > The US drug regulator has allowed a key Moderna flu vaccine trial to proceed, reversing an earlier decision to halt the study that triggered a backlash from the company and wider biotech industry. In a regulatory filing on Wednesday, Moderna said the Food and Drug Administration will review a late-stage trial for the company's first-ever flu shot and set an August deadline to approve or deny the drug. Moderna said it held a meeting with FDA staff to revisit the trial application. Moderna's announcement ends a brief but intense spat between the Trump administration and the high-profile vaccine maker that was also one of the central companies in developing Covid-19 jabs during the pandemic. First reaction: I'll take the win, sure. This new mRNA influenza vaccine candidate had been tested in a massive Phase 3 trial, showing significantly greater efficacy. Career staff objected, and companies across the sector were caught off guard. Moreover, the signal to investors was unmistakable: Even scientifically validated platforms can become politically radioactive such that FDA decisions are affected. The reversal is good news but damage done. Regulatory uncertainty abounds. #### A chilling effect My second reaction: What's next? Keep in mind that the true rationale here--broad safety suspicion of mRNA vaccines as a class (the crazies think they're bioweapons)--runs counter to accumulated evidence. Good to remember: The mRNA Covid vaccines saved an estimated 140,000 American lives between December 2020 and May 2021, plus nearly $2 trillion in economic benefits. And looking forward, I wonder about the fate of future efforts. Personalized mRNA cancer vaccines are a major strategic bet for Moderna and others. NIH-backed research has explored mRNA strategies targeting Epstein-Barr virus, widely implicated in multiple sclerosis--raising the possibility that MS could one day be preventable. The original FDA decision therefore affects not just flu shots, but oncology, autoimmune disease, and even preparedness for the next pandemic. As it is, notes The New York Times, venture funding for new mRNA vaccine firms fell sharply -- from about $510 million in 2023 to roughly $174 million last year. Companies have also canceled manufacturing plans, including a Texas facility expected to support more than 170 jobs. Researchers describe a broader "chilling effect" across the field. Meanwhile, federal health officials have canceled or wound down roughly $500 million in mRNA-vaccine contracts, including the termination of 22 projects backed by the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (the federal agency that funds late-stage development of vaccines and other medical countermeasures for pandemics and national-security threats). I would like to believe this is the end of this Trump administration's vaccine nonsense. Let me know when it approves any new vaccine, especially based on the mRNA platform. A good idea on the front comes from Scott Gottlieb, an AEI colleague and a former FDA commissioner: > The regulatory path for approving and recommending new vaccines through the FDA and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is being stymied. It's part of a broader political campaign to suppress vaccines altogether. … Given today's political headwinds, Congress will need to intervene by directing funds to specific lines of vaccine research, with clear objectives, enforceable milestones and mandatory reporting from HHS to ensure compliance. … The choice being made now to disassemble the U.S. vaccine enterprise risks foreclosing entire avenues of research and development that we may later wish we had preserved, once more of the long-term penalties of viral infections are painfully obvious. It's a national shame it's come to this. 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