This speeding up of the production process is one of the key reasons mRNA vaccines have "long been distrusted by vaccine sceptics". Kennedy himself referred to mRNA vaccine technology as "troubled", and called older "whole-cell" vaccine technology "safer".

If anyone needed a reminder that US health secretary and fervent anti-vaccine advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has no background in science or medicine, look no further than the video he posted on social media Tuesday evening.

The Trump administration’s decision to terminate hundreds of millions of dollars to develop mRNA vaccines and treatments imperils the country’s ability to fight future pandemics and is built on false or misleading claims about the technology,