While anti-vaxxers are thrilled, experts warn that defunding mRNA development takes away our already-proven best weapon against future pandemics.

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".

That kind of shot was first used during the Covid-19 pandemic, but the health secretary has been sharply critical of the technology.