FDA Commissioner Says Agency Not Against mRNA Vaccines

‘If the data support the claims that want to be made, we will approve that product,’ Dr. Marty Makary said.

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary, center, speaks in Washington on Jan. 7, 2026. Alex Wong/Getty Images

The Food and Drug Administration commissioner said on Feb. 23 that the agency is not opposed to vaccines using messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) technology, shortly after the agency agreed to consider an mRNA influenza vaccine from Moderna following an initial rejection of the company’s application.

“I think that would be quite a stretch, to say we’re not embracing mRNA vaccines. We’ve approved two mRNA vaccines at the beginning of my time,” Dr. Marty Makary, the FDA’s commissioner, told reporters in Washington.