Published 7:50 am Monday, April 27, 2026 Our fraught national debate over immunization and public health has overshadowed some extremely encouraging advances being made by researchers in the decades-long battle against cancer. Recent news of a potential breakthrough vaccine for one of the most lethal of all cancers — pancreatic cancer — demonstrates why continued federal research support for such treatments remains so vital. Once diagnosed, pancreatic cancer has been a death sentence for those afflicted in the vast majority of cases. With conventional treatments, just 13% of patients are alive five years after diagnosis, according to the American Cancer Society. Recently disclosed results of the test of an experimental vaccine using messenger RNA (mRNA) on 16 patients were extraordinarily positive. The immune systems of eight of the 16 in the trial responded to the vaccine.…