They’re turning their backs on a technology thought to have saved millions of lives—with the potential to save many more.

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.

Scientists say HHS’s decision to stop investing in mRNA vaccine research is another sign of the growing politicization of research, which will stymie the country’s medical breakthroughs.