AILSA CHANG, HOST:
The Food and Drug Administration is mulling whether to approve the first mRNA flu vaccine. Now, this decision is being closely watched because of the Trump administration's hostility towards mRNA technology in the wake of the COVID pandemic. NPR health correspondent Rob Stein joins us now to explain the details. Hi, Rob.
ROB STEIN, BYLINE: Hey there.
CHANG: Hey. OK, so say more about why there is so much scrutiny over this particular vaccine. Like, what's the context here?
STEIN: Yeah, sure. As you probably remember, President Trump embraced mRNA technology during his first term. His Operation Warp Speed developed the COVID-19 vaccines in record time to protect people during the pandemic...
CHANG: Right.
STEIN: ...An achievement that was widely praised as a medical triumph. It raised hopes that this powerful mRNA technology could be a game-changer for protecting people against many other diseases. But mRNA vaccines ended up being vilified by many. And during the second Trump administration, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine critic, and other top health officials have been hostile towards mRNA technology. They made it harder to get the COVID vaccines. They slashed hundreds of millions of dollars of funding to develop new mRNA vaccines, and the FDA, under Kennedy, initially refused to even consider this new mRNA flu vaccine, which is called mFlusiva.
CHANG: OK. So then what changed? Like, what happened after that?
STEIN: An intense backlash to that decision prompted the FDA to reverse course, and independent advisers voted unanimously in June to recommend that the FDA approve the shot. That was based on research involving more than 40,000 people conducted by Moderna, which makes the vaccine. The research found that mFlusiva appears to be safe and can apparently produce stronger protection than traditional flu vaccines for people ages 50 to 65.
CHANG: Oh. I fall into that category. OK. So much zigzagging. How does this vaccine work exactly?
STEIN: Yeah. It works just like the COVID shots. Genetic material called mRNA kind of tricks the immune system into thinking a virus has invaded the body, triggering the production of antibodies to fend off the invader. In this case, it's the flu viruses instead of the coronavirus that causes COVID. Public health and infectious disease experts are also excited about this because mRNA vaccines can be updated and produced much more quickly than traditional flu vaccines, and that could make it more protective when a new flu virus emerges unexpectedly, like it did last season, and could be crucial if a flu pandemic erupts. I talked about this with Dr. Jeanne Marrazzo. She leads the Infectious Disease Society of America.
JEANNE MARRAZZO: The FDA would be signaling openness to this platform, which has been a controversy and an issue. It's a really promising product that could set us up not only for improved response to a bad flu season but also to an improved response to any biological threats.
STEIN: But, you know, others disagree. Dr. Brian Hooker is the chief scientific director at Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group once headed by RFK Jr. He says the mRNA technology is just still too new.
BRIAN HOOKER: Flu shots are given to healthy individuals. They're given to sick individuals. They're given to immunocompromised individuals. Ultimately, the approval could go to children. It could be for pregnant women. I would rather go back, fill in the gaps, dot the I's, cross the T's and then roll forward with technology that has been tested over years and years and years.
CHANG: All right. That is NPR's Rob Stein. Thank you so much, Rob.
STEIN: You bet. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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