Don't Let Cancer Patients Pay the Price

To Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Pledge to protect and expand funding for mRNA cancer research — including for pancreatic cancer, melanoma, kidney cancer, and lung cancer. 

Americans deserve a guarantee that the science behind these breakthroughs will not be cut because of a tenuous association with COVID-era hysteria (which was like 5 years ago, by the way). 

Families fighting cancer cannot afford to lose this hope.

———

The stakes are real. About 50,000 Americans die from pancreatic cancer every year.¹ Researchers at Yale University studied what could happen if mRNA science is abandoned. They estimated that more than 49,000 cancer deaths could be prevented each year across four cancers alone: pancreatic, kidney, lung, and melanoma.⁷ That is a projection, not a promise — but it shows what is at stake. The real question is this: Will the United States lead this research, or let other countries lead while American patients wait?

In mid-November 2012, my then-56-year old dad was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. By mid-January 2013, he was gone. It was one of the most intense, brutal, and harrowing things I’ve ever seen in my life. All cancers suck, but I think pancreatic cancer might be the one that sucks the hardest (not to be overly poetic about it or anything). 

If you’re unfamiliar with me and are currently reading this petition just because you saw it being shared somewhere out there in the digital ether: good, that’s the whole idea. But also…my name is Trae, I’m a comedian who often yaps about politics and culture and the like (I also cook fancy stuff from time to time but that’s not important right now). Recently on my political podcast Weekly Skews, I found out from my co-host that Health Czar and Rotting Animal Carcass Aficionado RFK Jr. had been actively threatening funding for specific types of mRNA vaccine research for some time now, and that the collateral damage from this could include potential treatments for pancreatic cancer specifically (the actual details on all can be found below). Because of my very personal connection to the subject, it inspired me to do something I almost never do: try to effect positive change through some means besides just running my stupid mouth on the internet. And that inspiration has manifested itself in this particular case as the very petition you now have before you. 

When I decided to attempt this, (read this next part in the voice of that bald guy from Pawn Stars please) I called up my buddy who’s an expert in political petitions (OK you can go back to your own voice now), Matt Hildreth of ruralorganizing.org, and asked him to help me put this together. (Matt also happens to produce my aforementioned podcast.) Much of what follows, i.e. the actual hard research and sourcing part of this endeavor, was done by Matt. And I appreciate him for it. So with all that said, here we go…

Pancreatic cancer is one of the hardest diagnoses a family can hear. Only 13 out of every 100 patients are still alive five years later.¹ Many die within a year. But for the first time in a generation, there is real hope, and it comes from mRNA technology.

A team of doctors at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, led by Dr. Vinod Balachandran, used an mRNA vaccine to help patients' own immune systems fight pancreatic cancer cells. In a small trial of 16 patients, 8 of them had a strong immune response to the vaccine.² New results published this month show that 7 of those 8 patients are still alive 4 to 6 years later.³ For a cancer this deadly, that is almost unheard of.

And pancreatic cancer is just the beginning. The same mRNA science is being tested against many other cancers, including melanoma, kidney cancer, lung cancer, colorectal cancer, and brain cancer. Some of these trials are already in their final stages.⁴ This breakthrough did not happen overnight. It came from decades of research on mRNA, the same science behind the COVID vaccines. In August 2025, Secretary Kennedy cancelled 22 mRNA vaccine projects worth nearly $500 million. Those cuts were aimed at vaccines for diseases like COVID and flu, not cancer.⁵ But cancer research uses the same science, the same factories, and many of the same scientists. Doctors running major cancer vaccine trials have warned that attacks on mRNA put their work in danger, even when their own funding is safe.⁶

Secretary Kennedy has said he supports safe and effective vaccines. He has said cancer research is not his target.⁵ We are asking him to prove it. We are asking for a clear, public promise: protect mRNA cancer research, fund it, and keep it safe from future cuts. That promise would give patients, families, and scientists the confidence they need to keep fighting.

Every week, another family gets the diagnosis. Every week, researchers work without knowing if their tools will still be there tomorrow. We are asking Secretary Kennedy to put cancer patients first. We are not asking for a favor. We are asking for the chance to live, and for the people we love to live.

This is a sponsored petition. Learn more here.

———

Sources:

1. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, citing American Cancer Society Cancer Statistics 2026: https://www.mskcc.org/news/can-mrna-vaccines-fight-pancreatic-cancer-msk-clinical-researchers-are-trying-find-out

2. Balachandran et al., "RNA neoantigen vaccines prime long-lived CD8+ T cells in pancreatic cancer," Nature (Phase 1 trial, 16 patients, 8 immune responders).

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08508-4

3. Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, "Investigational Pancreatic Cancer Vaccine Shows Lasting Results in Early Trial" (April 2026): https://www.mskcc.org/news/can-mrna-vaccines-fight-pancreatic-cancer-msk-clinical-researchers-are-trying-find-out

4. CNN, "After a year of turmoil, cancer researchers see promising signs for mRNA vaccines" (April 20, 2026): https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/20/health/cancer-research-mrna-vaccines

5. HHS press release, "HHS Winds Down mRNA Vaccine Development Under BARDA" (Aug. 5, 2025): https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/hhs-winds-down-mrna-development-under-barda.html

6. Pharmaceutical Technology, "As US funding falters, mRNA cancer vaccine pioneers face new hurdles": https://www.pharmaceutical-technology.com/features/as-us-funding-falters-mrna-cancer-vaccine-pioneers-face-new-hurdles/

7. Yale School of Public Health, "New report sounds alarm on health fallout from mRNA vaccine funding cuts" (Dec. 19, 2025): https://ysph.yale.edu/news-article/new-report-sounds-alarm-on-health-fallout-from-mrna-vaccine-funding-cuts/