A patient receives a vaccine. (Jacob Wackerhausen / Getty Images)
By Samuel Short August 7, 2026 at 6:59am
Moderna has rolled out a new mRNA vaccine, but the public should know better than to trust a novel product from a pharmaceutical company after the events of COVID.
The vaccine in question is for influenza — mFLUSIVA — and has been approved by the Food and Drug Administration, despite Just the News reporting it was not tested against a placebo and only small benefits were noted against a standard flu vaccine with a lower safety profile.
mFLUSIVA carries a 6.4 percent rate for adverse reactions or a “Grade 3.” The standard shot has a 1 percent rate.
The new vaccine is for adults 50 through 64 years old, according to Access News Wire. Use in adults over 65 was granted accelerated approval, but Just the News noted that Moderna must complete a “postmarketing” study to compare it in the latter group against a high dose of the standard flu vaccine.
The New York Times noted the adverse effects after use. Injection site pain was experienced by nearly two-thirds of those who took it, according to the study cited.
The outlet said 45 percent of participants reported fatigue and 38 percent reported headaches. Those reports were twice as high as the comparator.
Serious events like fainting, low blood pressure leading to three days in the hospital, and one case of perimyocarditis were also reported, the latter of which the Cleveland Clinic defines as “inflammation in two different parts of your heart, but mostly in the protective sac around it,” known as the pericardium.
Will you ever trust mRNA shots, regardless of how safe experts say they are?
According to The New York Times, the technology used in mFLUSIVA is the same as that used in the COVID vaccines. mRNA vaccines tell the body to make the virus in order to set off the immune response in the body.
Despite being five to six years removed from COVID, Americans have not forgotten when experimental vaccines were foisted upon them, at risk of losing their jobs and being ostracized by their peers.
This presents problems now and in the future.
How can we trust pharmaceutical companies, regardless of the efficacy of these new products?
COVID sowed such a degree of distrust between the scientific community and the general population that whatever faith existed before 2020 likely won’t return any time soon.
Officials at the helm of the COVID response now sheepishly retreat when asked to defend their records. On July 29, former National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Anthony Fauci appeared before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, where he repeatedly invoked the Fifth Amendment rather than answering for his record.
Fauci’s actions over the years — especially his dishonesty and deceit — came amid numerous media appearances where he made a tidal wave of contradictory remarks.
Luckily, a 20-minute compilation of his behavior now exists courtesy of a self-styled investigative video reporter, Matt Orfalea.
The footage covers it all — masking, social distancing, vaccinating, and government shutdowns.
For as angry as the American people are with Fauci, the scientific community with genuine intentions should be just as incensed.
It could take lifetimes to restore the trust he betrayed.
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Sam Short is an Assistant Professor of History with Motlow State Community College in Smyrna, Tennessee. He holds a BA in History from Middle Tennessee State University and an MA in History from University College London. The views expressed in his articles are his own and do not reflect the views or opinions of Motlow State Community College.
