RFK Jr cancels $500m in mRNA vaccine development in the US

Doctors and health experts have criticised Kennedy's longstanding questioning of the safety and efficacy of vaccines and his debunked views on health policies.

Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, a vaccine sceptic, announced he was pulling the funding over claims that "mRNA technology poses more risks than benefits for these respiratory viruses".

The move will impact 22 projects being led by major pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer and Moderna, for vaccines against bird flu and other viruses, HHS said.

The US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) plans to cancel $500m (£376m) in funding for mRNA vaccines being developed to counter viruses like the flu and Covid-19.

The development of mRNA vaccines to target Covid-19 was critical in helping slow down the pandemic and saving millions of lives, said Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

Dr Offit told the BBC that Kennedy's move will put the US in a "more dangerous" position to respond to any potential future pandemic, since mRNA vaccines have a shorter development cycle, which is why they were able to be used to respond to the Covid pandemic.

In a statement, Kennedy said his team had "reviewed the science, listened to the experts, and acted. "[T]he data show these vaccines fail to protect effectively against upper respiratory infections like COVID and flu," he said.

He said the department was shifting the funding toward "safer, broader vaccine platforms that remain effective even as viruses mutate".

But the mRNA vaccines are "remarkably safe" and key to helping prevent against severe infections from viruses like Covid, said Dr Offit, who invented the rotavirus vaccine.

HHS said the department that runs the projects, Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), would focus on "platforms with stronger safety records and transparent clinical and manufacturing data practices".

While some vaccines use an inactivated virus to trigger an immune response, mRNA vaccines work by teaching cells how to make proteins that can trigger an immune response. Moderna and Pfizer's mRNA vaccines were tested in thousands of people before being rolled out and were found to be safe and effective.

Since taking office, Kennedy has taken a number of steps to transform how the nation's health department develops and regulates vaccines.

In June, he fired all 17 members of a committee that issues official government recommendations on immunisations, replacing them with some people who have criticized the safety and efficacy of vaccines.

He also removed the Covid vaccine from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's recommended immunization schedule for healthy children and pregnant women.

'£50bn black hole' and parental help from a princess

26 minutes ago Share Save Share Save

"Reeves facing huge tax hikes to fill £50bn black hole" says the Daily Mail, reporting on research from the National Institute of Economic and Social Research that suggests a budget deficit of £41.2bn. Chancellor Rachel Reeves has "refused to rule out a fresh tax raid this autumn".

The Daily Telegraph has also led on the "£50bn hole" in the budget, declaring that the chancellor must raise taxes "immediately" if she wants to stick to her spending promises. Catherine, Princess of Wales, is pictured front and centre, after she released a series of videos to help families experience "everyday moments of connection".

Kemi Badenoch warns that Labour is carrying out an "assault on rural life" on the front page of the Express. The Conservative leader claims that inheritance tax on farms worth more than £1m is "cruel" and "unnecessary". The Princess of Wales' charity work has also made the front of the Express, captioned "Kate's 'life's work' to give our children better futures".

"Toxic culture led to Titan disaster" reads the Metro, leading on a report from the US Coast Guard that concludes OceanGate Expeditions CEO Stockton Rush "leveraged intimidation tactics" to avoid scrutiny of his company. The submersible imploded on a deep sea trip to see the wreck of the Titanic in June 2023, killing five people including Rush.

The Financial Times says Neil Woodford and his now-defunct company have been fined £46mn by the Financial Conduct Authority for "failures" leading to the fund's downfall. The Woodford Equity Income fund collapsed in 2019, in what the paper has named one of the biggest retail investment scandals in the UK.

The Times' headline reads "Migrants can use rights laws to evade deportation", reporting that legislation designed to protect human rights could undermine the "one in, one out" agreement with France. Actor George Clooney has been photographed with wife and human rights lawyer Amal at a fundraiser in Lake Como, with the image captioned "Dinner date".

The Guardian has an image of the Gaza Strip taking up the majority of the front page, paired with the headline "From above, Gaza is like the aftermath of an apocalypse". The paper was granted permission to travel aboard a Jordanian military aircraft carrying aid after Israel announced it would allow further co-ordinated humanitarian airdrops over the territory.

Gary Lineker is set to return to television, according to the Sun. The reports come three months after the presenter stepped down from BBC's Match of the Day, with the paper writing that he will be hosting a new ITV game show called The Box.

The front page of the Mirror leads on an image that allegedly shows Prince Andrew, Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell in the royal box at Ascot. The paper says the photo was taken at Ascot Ladies' Day on 22 June 2000.

"Up before the beak" says the Daily Star, writing about a pet parrot that reportedly used slang for crack cocaine in a video and helped put a gang behind bars.

Taxes must rise to meet target, says thinktank

3 hours ago Share Save Lucy Hooker Business reporter, BBC News Share Save

AFP via Getty Images

Taxes must rise in the autumn if Chancellor Rachel Reeves is to meet her self-imposed borrowing rules, according to an economic thinktank. The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (Niesr) said the government was on track to miss the target it has set itself by £41.2bn. It recommended "a moderate but sustained increase in taxes" including reform of the council tax system to make up the shortfall. The government said "the best way to strengthen public finances is by growing the economy", but the Conservatives said Labour "always reaches for the tax rise lever".

When she became chancellor, Reeves set out two rules for government borrowing, which is the difference between public spending and tax income. The first rule was that day-to-day spending would be paid for with government revenue, which is mainly taxes. Borrowing can only be for investment. The second rule was that debt must be falling as a share of national income by the end of a five-year period. Reeves has repeatedly said these rules are "non-negotiable". The chancellor originally promised not to raise taxes further, but recently refused to rule it out after disappointing data on economic growth. Stephen Millard, deputy director for macroeconomics at Niesr, said Reeves "will need to either raise taxes or reduce spending or both in the October Budget if she is to meet her fiscal rules". Niesr argues that raising taxes would help build a "buffer" that would reassure investors about the stability of the UK's public finances. That in turn "may reduce borrowing costs" for the government, it said.

Gorillas seek out old female friends even after years apart

2 hours ago Share Save Victoria Gill Science correspondent, BBC News Share Save

Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Female gorillas appear to maintain their social relationships for many years

The relationships built up between female mountain gorillas are more important than previously understood, new research from Rwanda suggests. It shows that when one of these social great apes moves into a new group, she will seek out and join another female she already knows. Scientists based the research on 20 years of data covering multiple groups of gorillas in Volcanoes National Park, in Rwanda. The scientists found that even when two females had been apart for many years, a newly arrived gorilla would still try to join a female she had formed a previous connection with.

Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Gorilla social groups occasionally come together, allowing females to form connections with individuals in other groups

The findings, published in the Royal Society Journal Proceedings B, show how important the relationship between two individual females is in gorilla society. "Scientifically, I don't know if I can talk about 'friendship'," explained lead researcher Victoire Martignac, a PhD researcher form the University of Zurich. "But we're showing here that these same sex relationships really matter." Moving into different groups is key in shaping the animals' social structure. It's something that both males and females do - females will sometimes move several times throughout their lives. This dispersal, as it's known, plays a role in avoiding inbreeding, spreading gene diversity and shaping social relationships. "In the wild it is very important," explained Ms Martignac. "But it's extremely hard to study, because once individuals leave a group, it's hard to keep track of them."

Working in partnership with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund, at a field site that has been monitored since 1967, Ms Martignac and her colleagues were able to track those movements. Poring through decades of information on the animals' lives, the scientists followed the "dispersals" of 56 female mountain gorillas - examining which new group they chose to join and why. The gorillas avoided groups that had males they were likely to be related to, but the presence of females they knew also "mattered a lot", Ms Martignac explained. The females gravitated towards their "friends", even if the animals had been apart for many years. They would often gravitate to a group with females they had grown up with, even if that was many years ago. They also sought out individuals with whom they had made a social connection - perhaps played and interacted with - recently.

Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund Female-female relationships are much more important to gorilla society than previously understood

Despite Trump's peace calls, Russian attacks on Ukraine double since inauguration

2 hours ago Share Save Matt Murphy & Ned Davies BBC Verify Share Save

Reuters

Russia has more than doubled the number of drones and missiles fired towards Ukraine since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, a BBC Verify analysis has found, despite his calls for a ceasefire. Attacks had already been rising under former President Joe Biden in 2024 but climbed sharply after Trump's election victory in November. Since he returned to office in January, recorded aerial attacks from Moscow have reached their highest levels of the war. Throughout his campaign Trump vowed to bring an end to fighting in just one day if returned to office. He claimed during his 2024 campaign that Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine could have been averted had a president who the Kremlin "respected" held office. However, in his efforts to achieve a ceasefire he has been accused at times of favouring Russia by critics, and his administration has paused deliveries of air defence munitions and other military supplies to Ukraine on two separate occasions.

The pauses - announced in March and July and since reversed by the president - came as Russia steadily increased missile and drone production. According to Ukrainian military intelligence, ballistic missile construction in Russia grew by 66% over the past year. The data reviewed by BBC Verify - based on daily incident reports issued by the Ukrainian Air Force - showed that Russia launched 27,158 munitions between 20 January - when Trump's presidency began - and 19 July, compared to 11,614 over the final six months of Biden's term. "This brutal war was brought on by Joe Biden's incompetence, and it has gone on for far too long," White House deputy Press Secretary Anna Kelly said in a statement to BBC Verify. "President Trump wants to stop the killing, which is why he is selling American-made weapons to NATO members and threatening Putin with biting tariffs and sanctions if he does not agree to a ceasefire." In the opening weeks of the new administration, the White House issued a series of warm statements seemingly intended to entice President Vladimir Putin towards a settlement. During this period, Russian attacks on Ukraine briefly fell when compared to the final weeks of the Biden administration. But by February, when US diplomats led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's delegation for a summit in Riyadh, attacks had started to climb again. The talks, which Rubio said were a starting point to bring an end to the war, have been followed by mediated discussions between Ukrainian and Russian officials in Turkey. Attacks peaked early last month, when Moscow launched 748 drones and missiles towards Ukraine on 9 July, according to the Ukrainian Air Force data. More than a dozen people were reportedly injured by the barrage and two were killed.

While Trump has expressed anger at the escalating Russian attacks on several occasions, his mounting frustration does not appear to have had an impact on Moscow's strategy. On 25 May, Russia launched its then-largest recorded barrage, prompting Trump to angrily ask: "What the hell happened to him [Putin]?" Since then, Russia has exceeded that number of reported launches on 14 occasions. Trump has responded by demanding that the Kremlin reach a peace deal with Ukraine by 8 August. The number of Russian munitions penetrating Ukrainian air defences appears to be increasing, with explosions around the capital Kyiv becoming a daily part of life for residents of the city. "Every time you go to sleep, you don't know if you're going to wake up the next morning, and that's just not a normal way to live," Dasha Volk, a journalist living in the city, told the BBC's Ukrainecast programme in June. "Every time you hear an explosion or a missile flying over your head, lots of thoughts are going through my mind - I'm going to die now, things like that."

Ukraine 'vulnerable' to aerial attacks

Senator Chris Coons, a senior Democrat on the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told BBC Verify that Trump's decision to suspend weapons supplies on two occasions and his broader approach to Russian relations may have convinced the Kremlin that it had the freedom to increase attacks. "It's clear Putin feels emboldened by Trump's weakness and has increased his vicious assault on the Ukrainian people, repeatedly attacking hospitals and maternity wards, the Ukrainian power grid, and other civilian sites," he said. The growing attacks have renewed calls for the US to send fresh supplies of Patriot anti-air batteries to Ukraine. The Patriots are the most capable and expensive air defence systems that Ukraine has. Each Patriot battery costs around $1bn (£800m), and each missile costs nearly $4m. Trump has overturned the previous supply pauses and agreed to sell weapons to Nato members, who will in turn supply them to Kyiv. Trump appeared to imply that the deal would include fresh supplies of Patriot batteries. Justin Bronk, an analyst focussing on the Russian military at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), said restrictions on the supply of military equipment imposed by the White House had made Ukraine "vulnerable" to missile and drone attacks. But he also noted that Russia has ramped up the production of missiles and so-called 'kamikaze' drones such as the Geran-2 - a domestically produced version of the Iranian Shahed drone. Mr Bronk said that Russia's increased stockpiles, coupled with "significant reductions" in supply of US interceptor missiles had encouraged Moscow to escalate its air campaign.

EPA Russia is said to be producing huge numbers of Geran drones for use against Ukraine

Ukraine's Military Intelligence agency (HUR) recently told domestic media that Russia was now producing up to 85 ballistic missiles per month, up from 44 in April 2024. Russia is reportedly producing 170 Geran drones per day, having established a massive manufacturing facility at Alabuga in the south of the country. In a recent interview with Russian military TV, the facility's director Timur Shagivaleyev boasted that Alabuga had become "the largest combat drone production plant in the world", adding that his workers were producing nine times more units than initially expected. Satellite images show the facility has expanded significantly since mid-2024, with a number of new warehouses built on the site. Other structures, including what appear to be expansions to worker dormitories, remain under construction.