Thread by @BrandyZadrozny

I spent the week tracing how @SecKennedy canceled $500 million in mRNA research and reporting on a(nother) very chaotic week inside HHS.

Let me introduce you to the fringe doctors, anti-vaccine activists, and MAHA operatives behind the mRNA “debacle.”

First up: Secretary Kennedy, who once again rolled out a major anti-vaccine policy change via X post. He offered no evidence for his claims that mRNA vaccines were ineffective. No coordination with the White House. And all while on a MAHA tour of Alaska.

Enter Gray Delany. A MAHA true believer with MAGA credentials and RFK Jr. campaign ties.
He’d just been hired as director of MAHA implementation and external affairs—essentially a bridge in the HHS comms shop for a fractured base.

Delany booked interviews, called allies, tried to get everyone on the same page. On a MAHA Action call with Sen. Rand Paul and Kennedy's wife, Cheryl Hines, he begged activists to stay united on the mRNA move: “There is an active effort to divide us.”

Delany drafted a surrogate to talk about the cuts on MAGA/MAHA media: Dr. Steven Hatfill, an HHS adviser, went on Steve Bannon’s and Emerald Robinson’s shows to defend the decision.

You might remember Dr. Hatfill—a virologist and former Trump volunteer adviser known for promoting ineffective Covid cures (and some pretty wild emails, you should watch this h/t @maddow).

Hatfill’s evidence was a 181-page list of studies compiled by a cast of characters: a Namibian dentist, a cardiologist turned anti-vaxx darling, an immunologist at a Canadian vet college. It does little to support a case against very safe mRNA vaccines.
archive.ph/Zl7FB

Hatfill named someone else who made the call: “my boss, John Knox.” So who is Knox? The guy in charge of medical and public health preparedness, response, and recovery efforts? He’s a former LA firefighter who met RFK Jr. through a 2021 vaccine mandate lawsuit.

Delany and Hatfill hadn’t been cleared by HHS to go public. In fact, RFK’s right-hand woman inside HHS, Stefanie Spear, told them to stand down.
They ignored her. And so Delany—the MAHA/MAGA base-whisperer—was fired after just 52 days. The base was not happy. Bannon to me:

As fringe figures formed policy inside HHS, one longtime employee decided the mRNA decision had crossed a red line. Alastair Thomson, chief data officer at ARPA-H, resigned in protest.
From my interview with him:

Over the course of a week, the rationale for mRNA policy shifted 3 times. HHS trotted out NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, on Bannon's show, who contradicted Hatfill and said the problem with mRNA vaccines was that the public didn’t trust them. Wonder why that might be…

To sum up: A massively consequential public health policy cutting mRNA research was made on the fly—a decision guided by ideology and misinformation—rolled out by a dysfunctional HHS.

Reporting takes time. Hope you’ll read it:
msnbc.com/news/news-anal…