US Health and Human Services is “winding down” its mRNA vaccine development and will instead fund other vaccine platforms through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, the agency said Tuesday.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced last week that his department would slash about $500 million in mRNA vaccine contracts, a hit to an industry already reeling from other public funding cuts. Those impacts are being felt in Vermont, experts say.

HHS announced the pullback on 22 mRNA vaccine-related projects funded by BARDA in a press release on Tuesday night. (BARDA had previously pulled $766 million in funding for an mRNA vaccine being developed by Moderna against pandemic influenza, including H5N1 bird flu.)