John,
A majority of Americans still supports vaccines. So why is RFK Jr. dismantling pandemic protections?
Despite rising political polarization, most Americans continue to value vaccines as essential to public health. Today, 69% of Americans say childhood vaccines are very or extremely important -- still a strong majority, although it is down from 84% in 2015, before Donald Trump’s first term, mainly due to declining support among Republicans.
Despite this strong public support for vaccines, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has just taken a reckless step: cancelling a $175 million contract with Moderna to develop a human vaccine for H5N1 bird flu.
The bird flu virus has already killed over 173 million birds worldwide, infected dairy cattle in 17 U.S. states, sickened dozens of farmworkers, and caused at least one confirmed human death in the U.S.
This is critically important by itself, but this isn’t just about one virus either. It’s about whether we choose to prepare -- or to be blindsided.
Send a direct message to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to demand the immediate reinstatement of the Moderna contract and full funding for bird flu vaccine development now.
The decision not only wastes taxpayer dollars already spent, but strips the government of its ability to secure vaccine doses ahead of a potential pandemic, leaving the nation exposed and unprepared.
At the same time, RFK Jr. is actively dismantling the Office of Pandemic Preparedness and Response Policy (OPPR), established by Congress after COVID-19 with a staff of 20 to ensure we’d never again be caught off guard. Now RFK Jr. has slashed the staff to just one, and removed its website from the internet.
This is exactly the kind of scenario the OPPR was created to handle: a fast-mutating virus jumping from animals to humans, just a step away from human-to-human transmission. And yet, instead of acting, HHS is retreating, because RFK Jr.’s history of vaccine misinformation is now shaping national health policy -- an ideology that is out of step not just with science, but with most Americans.
Pandemic preparedness is about foresight -- not panic, and not partisanship. It’s about investing in tools like vaccines before the next outbreak erupts. But it’s not too late to change course now. RFK Jr. has reversed positions under public pressure before, such as when he finally supported the measles vaccine. We need that pressure again now.
Tell RFK Jr. to reinstate the Moderna contract and fully fund the bird flu vaccine now.
Thank you for standing up for science, preparedness, and public health -- while we still have the opportunity to prevent a disaster.
- DFA AF Team
