The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), under the Trump administration, has recently proposed terminating funding for a wide range of HIV vaccine research projects.
The HHS directed the National Institutes of Health (NIH) not to issue any new funding for HIV vaccine research in the upcoming fiscal year, with only a few limited exceptions.
Notifications that the funding would not be extended were relayed Friday to researchers, who were told by National Institutes of Health officials that the Department of Health and Human Services had elected “to go with currently available approaches to eliminate HIV” instead.The cuts will shutter two major HIV vaccine research efforts that were first funded by the NIH in 2012 at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute and the Scripps Research Institute, multiple scientists said. A spokesperson for Moderna said the vaccine manufacturer’s clinical trials through the NIH’s HIV Vaccine Trials Network have also been put on pause.One senior NIH official said the HHS had also instructed the agency not to issue any more funding in the next fiscal year for HIV vaccine research, with only a small handful of exceptions.A budgetary rule change specifically targeted at HIV vaccine research is also expected to lead to another cut to the NIH’s awards for studies initiated by scientists, an official said.
How long are American taxpayers expected to fork out millions in research for a vaccine that 0.36% of the population has contracted…usually through their own lifestyle choices?
Based on the histrionic reporting associated with this news, forever is the only correct answer.
Needless to say, the scientists impacted by this new awareness of fiscal realities and new funding prioritizations are upset.
“I find it very disappointing that, at this critical juncture, the funding for highly successful H.I.V. vaccine research programs should be pulled,” said Dennis Burton, an immunologist who led the program at Scripps.The cuts will derail hard-won progress against H.I.V. over the past few decades, public health experts said. This week, the administration also withheld funds that were due to states and territories for H.I.V. prevention work. In Texas, the State Department of Health Services asked grantees to pause all activities “until further notice.” In Mecklenberg County in North Carolina, the health department has already had to lay off 10 staffers. Already, many African countries have reported serious disruptions in their efforts to curb the epidemic.“It’s just inconceivable how shortsighted this is,” said Mitchell Warren, executive director of the H.I.V. prevention organization AVAC….“The H.I.V. pandemic will never be ended without a vaccine, so killing research on one will end up killing people,” said John Moore, an H.I.V. researcher at Weill Cornell Medical in New York.
“Pandemic mania” is all played out. In reality, the number of HIV infections has been declining over the past several years.
The amount of funding the NIH was providing for this particular project is staggering.
An analysis done by AVAC showed that in 2022, NIH was the largest single funder of HIV vaccine research, providing 70% of $740 million spent globally on the effort that year. The agency’s prominent role means the end of CHAVD will be a big blow to the field, says immunologist John Moore, a veteran HIV vaccine researcher who is not part of the consortia. “It’s very difficult to compensate for the volume of NIH dollars,” says Moore, who believes “The agenda at HHS is to eliminate vaccine science, so this is one opportunity for them to do so.”Each of the CHAVD consortia have set their sights on designing vaccines that guide the immune system to develop what are called “broadly neutralizing antibodies” that work against a wide range of HIV variants. “It’s taken a long time, and I think that’s frustrated the field and certainly has frustrated us, but the good news is now that [both consortia] are making progress,” Haynes says. “It’s still very difficult, and we’re committed to finishing the job,” perhaps by finding other funders to fill the gap left by the lack of NIAID support.
The HHS’s decision to cancel HIV vaccine funding marks a significant policy shift, prioritizing existing prevention strategies over continued investment in vaccine innovation. This may ultimately be the most scientifically sound move any administration has made in the 40-year quest for the elusive product.
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