Fruits of decades of Aids vaccine research imperilled by Trump’s withdrawal of US funding
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A leaked document detailing the fate of more than 6,200 USAid programmes lists two leading HIV vaccine efforts among 5,341 projects earmarked for termination.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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WASHINGTON – After decades of failed attempts, scientists were optimistic that a new generation of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) vaccine candidates would finally succeed – changing the course of a pandemic that has claimed more than 42 million lives since 1981.
But that hope is now dimming as the US moves to pull vital funding.
A leaked document detailing the fate of more than 6,200 USAid programmes lists two leading HIV vaccine efforts among 5,341 projects earmarked for termination.
The 281-page file, reviewed by Bloomberg News and first reported by The New York Times, outlines the Trump administration’s plan to cut almost US$28 billion (S$37.5 billion) in support for a wide range of global health initiatives – including Gavi, the vaccine alliance
“The speed, scale and inhumanity of this administration’s approach to dismantling health programmes is staggering,” said Mr Mitchell Warren, the executive director of Avac, a New York-based organisation that advocates HIV prevention research.
“The targeted disruption of HIV vaccine development is particularly perverse – it’s undoing decades of progress.”
The largest HIV vaccine programme on the chopping block is a long-running effort led by the International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), which had been promised more than US$319 million in US support dating back to 2016.
While nearly US$238 million had already been disbursed, IAVI said it had expected an additional US$22 million until mid-2026.
A stop-work order in February forced the organisation to wind down operations and lay off staff.
Another major casualty is a US$45 million award to the South African Medical Research Council, intended to fund HIV vaccine trials across multiple countries. Only about US$9 million of that funding will ultimately be received.
“We think it would be a tragedy not to continue the work,” said Dr Glenda Gray, the council’s chief scientific officer.
Researchers had proposed scaling back the study to include only South Africa – excluding Kenya and Uganda – in hopes of making it “more attractive to funders”, she said in an interview.
With USAid support evaporating, scientists are now rushing to secure alternative funding, hoping the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) will step in to prioritise the work.
But it is unclear whether NIH – part of the Department of Health and Human Services – will be spared from broader austerity.
Job cuts
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced plans on March 27 to slash 10,000 jobs and shrink the agency’s budget
“These programmes don’t have on/off switches,” Avac’s Mr Warren said. “The science, infrastructure, and community relationships built over the last two decades are being erased in just weeks.”
Researchers estimate that hundreds of millions of dollars are still needed to bring an effective HIV vaccine to the finish line – a sum unlikely to come from any single donor.
“For the first time, based on work that’s come out over the past few years, we know what the goal is and we have a good idea about how to achieve that goal,” said Mr Mark Feinberg, IAVI’s president and chief executive officer, in an interview before the proposed funding cuts came to light.
“We really need an HIV vaccine if we’re going to end this epidemic.”
In response to the wave of cuts, the activist group ACT UP is organising a protest march in New York City on March 29, targeting the sweeping healthcare freezes enacted by US President Donald Trump, Mr Kennedy, and Mr Elon Musk – the billionaire running Mr Trump’s federal cost-cutting drive.
The demonstration aims to spotlight billions of dollars in halted funding for life-saving medications and global health programmes. BLOOMBERG
