Canada must lead way on medical research

Opinion

“This is the most promising technology we have for diseases — rare diseases, infectious diseases, cancer, cardiovascular, you name it. It’s one of the most successful innovations in medicine in the last 10 years or longer and they’re completely ignoring it.”

— UBC biochemist Pieter Cullis

“We’re reaching a point now where I think anything coming out of the U.S. that has to do with science and human health, you have to doubt it.”

— University of Alberta infectious-diseases specialist Lynora Salinger

“It creates a culture in which anti-vaxx beliefs are more accepted and challenged a lot less. And also it creates an environment where there’s an alternative to an evidence-based recommendation framework.”

— University of Saskatchewan virologist Angela Rasmussen

“The United States is a powerhouse when it comes to science policy, vaccine policy. Now it’s going to be very difficult to look to the United States for any sort of insight (on immunization).”

— Western University (Ontario) bioethicist Maxwell Smith

The anti-vaxx crowd may be cheering the bafflegab coming out of the mouth of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the Trump administration’s Health and Human Services secretary, but the misinformation and outright lies that are being told about mRNA technology and vaccine safety are prompting concerns north of the 49th parallel.

Over the last several months, Kennedy’s decisions and comments involving immunization have confirmed the worst fears of those who warned against his appointment to one of the most important government leadership roles in the United States. In February, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health were told that about 5,200 newly hired federal health workers were to be fired. Two months later, Kennedy laid off most of the staff at the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, and one month later laid off nearly all of the remaining staff. That essentially gutted programs ranging from approvals of new safety equipment to firefighter health.

And in June, Kennedy announced he was removing all 17 sitting members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s vaccine advisory committee and replacing them with new members.

Like its Canadian counterpart, the U.S. Advisory Committee for Immunization Practices makes recommendations on the safety, efficacy and clinical need of vaccines, and the organization’s process is globally influential.

New members of the ACIP panel include, according to a report by The Guardian, “experts who complained about being sidelined, a high-profile figure who has spread misinformation, and medical professionals who appear to have little vaccine expertise.” At least a few of them have shown themselves to be anti-vaccine activists.

The termination of scientific experts and the appointments of people who have little qualifications for their new roles have created an atmosphere that is not only anti-science, but actively deleterious to scientific inquiry and factual data.

The latest decision by the Trump administration’s erstwhile health secretary came just this week, when Kennedy announced a decision by the U.S. government to terminate nearly US$500 million in funding for mRNA vaccine development.

Kennedy defended the decision, saying that “as the pandemic showed us, mRNA vaccines don’t perform well against viruses that infect the upper respiratory tract.” As The Associated Press reported yesterday, that claim is contradicted by scientific evidence, with countless studies showing that vaccinated individuals fare far better against COVID-19 infections than those who are unvaccinated.

It’s estimated that the rollout of vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the deaths of millions of people around the world.

This decision will have far-reaching consequences well beyond the borders of the United States. Not only is he cutting short a life-saving innovation — one that had wide-ranging potential to affect other diseases such as cancer — Kennedy is hurting his own country’s reputation as a leader in medical science.

Allison McGreer, an infectious disease specialist at Toronto’s Mount Sinai Hospital, told the Globe and Mail that the production and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines was substantially a U.S.-led initiative, one that greatly benefited Canada. As a result of this decision, our nation will no longer be able to rely on the U.S. as a partner for pandemic preparedness.

Kennedy’s repeated questioning of the efficacy of vaccines in reducing the spread of respiratory illnesses like COVID-19 is also fuelling further vaccine hesitancy across North America. We can already see the effects of such misinformation — just look at the global resurgence of other diseases like measles, which until a few years ago was all but vanquished in North America. As of July 26, there have been a reported 4,394 measles cases in Canada, and of those 4,067 were confirmed with the remainder considered “probable” cases.

The danger, of course, is that investments in science will only decrease because of Kennedy’s misinformation campaign. Medical research and innovation is expensive, and while a lot of mRNA work has been conducted in Canada, it will be difficult to make up for the loss of scientific leadership from the United States.

But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try, even as we strengthen partnerships with like-minded nations. Our country has an opportunity here to step up and lead in medical research, if only our federal and provincial governments can find the political will to see it through.

Doing nothing is not a viable option.