HIV Program Stripped Of Funding, Stymieing Search For Vaccine
The $258 million program's work was instrumental to the search for a vaccine. The NIH also paused funding for a clinical trial of an HIV vaccine made by Moderna.
The New York Times:
Trump Administration Ends Program Critical To Search For An H.I.V. Vaccine
The Trump administration has dealt a sharp blow to work on H.I.V. vaccines, terminating a $258 million program whose work was instrumental to the search for a vaccine. Officials from the H.I.V. division of the National Institutes of Health delivered the news on Friday to the program’s two leaders, at Duke University and the Scripps Research Institute. (Mandavilli, 5/30)
San Francisco Chronicle:
HIV Prevention Efforts Threatened As Feds Abruptly Cut Off Funds
Leaders in HIV care in San Francisco and across the country say their critical efforts to stop new infections are under attack by a Trump administration that already has cut several key federal programs and now appears to be withholding money meant to go specifically toward prevention. The bulk of HIV prevention work is supported by federal money, including grants issued through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. But the CDC’s HIV programs have been gutted this year, and millions in grant money that should have been in the hands of state and local health care providers by now has yet to arrive. (Allday, 6/1)
Modern Healthcare:
HHS Budget Plan Sets Up Restructuring, Moves 340B Program To CMS
The Health and Human Services Department overhaul is coming into focus after the White House released an outline for its fiscal 2026 budget proposal Friday. Big change is coming if President Donald Trump, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Congress follow through with these plans. The budget summary comprises a mix of priorities for the department, some of which can be done under executive branch authority and some of which would require new legislation from the majority-Republican legislature. (Early, 5/30)
Regarding workforce and funding cuts —
AP:
Deep Cuts Erode The Foundations Of US Public Health System, End Progress, Threaten Worse To Come
Americans are losing a vast array of people and programs dedicated to keeping them healthy. Gone are specialists who were confronting a measles outbreak in Ohio, workers who drove a van to schools in North Carolina to offer vaccinations and a program that provided free tests to sick people in Tennessee. State and local health departments responsible for invisible but critical work such as inspecting restaurants, monitoring wastewater for new and harmful germs, responding to outbreaks before they get too big — and a host of other tasks to protect both individuals and communities — are being hollowed out. (Ungar and Smith, 5/31)
Politico:
‘They're The Backbone’: Trump’s Targeting Of Legal Immigrants Threatens Health Sector
The Trump administration’s efforts to strip protections from more than half a million legal immigrants could devastate the health sector, endangering care for the elderly and worsening rates of both chronic and infectious diseases. Hundreds of thousands of health care workers, including an estimated 30,000 legal immigrants from Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, are at risk of being deported — worrying providers and patients who rely on them for everything from nursing and physical therapy to maintenance, janitorial, foodservice and housekeeping work. (Ollstein, 5/31)
Stat:
DOGE's Brad Smith: The Little-Known Architect Of $67B In HHS Cuts
The relentless drumbeat of cuts to U.S. government research and disease prevention have devastated tens of thousands of affected workers and academics. To hear them tell it, today’s children and grandchildren will live shorter lives and the brightest scientists will flee the country. There’s one man at the center of it all and, chances are, you haven’t even heard of him. (Bannow, 6/2)
Also —
Axios:
Health Watchdog Find Savings From Trump, Biden HHS Of $16 Billion
The Department of Health and Human Services' watchdog identified more than $16 billion in overpayments, fraudulent billings and possible cost savings in health programs over a half year spanning the Biden and Trump administrations, including more than $3.5 billion to be returned to the government. Why it matters: The semiannual summary, first shared publicly to Axios, comes as the Trump administration says it's prioritizing government efficiency and rooting out waste, fraud and abuse. (Goldman, 6/2)
