Correcting this week’s misinformation: week of April 30, 2026

In a recent Senate Finance Committee hearing, HHS Secretary RFK Jr. said that he took away over $500 million in funding for mRNA vaccine research because they do not work. He also said that if they did work, vaccine companies would spend their own money on research.

People often say that if you “follow the money,” everything leads back to drug companies. It is true that pharmaceutical companies often pay for the later stages of research, like large clinical trials and bringing a product to market. However, government funding plays a major role much earlier in the process. In the United States, the government is the largest funder of basic and early-stage medical research, mainly through the National Institutes of Health (NIH). This early research helps scientists understand diseases and develop new ideas for treatments.

Studies show that government-funded research is connected to nearly all new drugs approved in recent years, and it may account for about half of the total investment needed to create them. Drug companies usually build on this early work and then fund the expensive later stages.

Recently, RFK Jr. argues that mRNA vaccines do not work for respiratory illnesses, such as COVID. While some experts think that other types of vaccines, like inhaled ones, might work even better in the future, current research shows that mRNA vaccines for diseases like COVID do work.

For example, one study looked at the impact of COVID vaccination campaigns between April 2021 and March 2022. It found that vaccines helped prevent about 2.6 million mild COVID-19 cases, nearly 244,000 hospitalizations, and saved over 51,000 lives. The study also estimated that the vaccines provided about $732 billion in overall benefits, including reduced healthcare costs and fewer lost workdays. Other studies have reached similar conclusions, showing that mRNA COVID vaccines are effective.

It is also important to understand that stopping funding for mRNA vaccines would not only affect COVID research. It would also slow down or stop research into using mRNA technology to treat or prevent other diseases, including some that are not related to the lungs.

A recent research paper from Peter McCollough’s group says that 299 deaths in the U.S. were reported after MMR vaccines, mostly in very young children, soon after getting the shot.

The claims in this graph come from the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS. According to the VAERS website, anyone can file a report about a bad reaction after getting a vaccine. But that doesn’t mean the vaccine actually caused the problem. VAERS is partly run by the CDC, but the CDC only hosts the data—it does not collect or verify it.

When you visit the VAERS website, it warns that “VAERS reports may contain information that is incomplete, inaccurate, coincidental, or unverifiable.” Because of this, scientists must be very careful when using VAERS data. The graph itself shows this problem too—it says vaccine deaths are only suspected, not proven. In fact, the reports don’t always mean there is a real link to vaccines at all.

A report in VAERS is not proof that a vaccine caused harm—it only shows that something happened after vaccination, not because of it. The numbers in VAERS also do not show how common a problem is, since millions of children get vaccines, so a number like 299 reports does not tell us the real risk. In addition, some reports may be missing details, have mistakes, or even be counted more than once, which is why scientists do not treat VAERS as proof. The study itself only describes patterns in reports and does not prove cause and effect or show that vaccines caused the deaths.

It is also important to know that young children can have health problems around the same age they get vaccines, which can make patterns appear even when vaccines are not the cause. Because of all this, scientists look at both the benefits and the risks when judging vaccine safety, not just these reports.

It’s also important to remember why there are so few measles deaths today. Kids get vaccinated, which means they don’t catch measles and don’t die from it. Before the vaccine, about 500 children used to die from measles every year in the United States.

People are still, in the year 2026, asking for blood from unvaccinated donors.

The Red Cross policy on blood donation after COVID vaccines says vaccinated people can donate blood. According to the Red Cross, “COVID-19 vaccine does not make you ineligible to donate blood,” and there is “no wait period after receiving a COVID-19 vaccine as long as they are feeling well and symptom-free.”

One 2025 study shows it is safe to get blood from someone who has had a COVID vaccine. Researchers looked at thousands of patients and found no extra risk from blood given by vaccinated donors. They also found no link between this blood and problems like blood clots, breathing issues, or death. Overall, the results show the blood supply is safe, even when donors were vaccinated or had COVID before.