The Effect of the National Institute for Health On Public Health and HIV and AIDS Research Layoffs: A Conversation with Spokesman Carl Schmid
The US National Institute for Health canceled more than one hundred research grants funding HIV and AIDS research in the past few weeks according to a Nature analysis. The CDC is losing its HIV prevention office as part of the restructuring.
The press secretary for the Department of Health and Human Services said that ongoing critical public health efforts will not be negatively impacted by the administrative realignment.
The Department of Health and Human Services, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is being upended by drastic reductions in force.
The co-chairman of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDs during Donald Trump’s first administration, Carl Schmid, says he got tears in his eyes when he heard about the layoffs. “These are people who have devoted their lives to ending HIV.”
Sara Zeigler worked for 20 years at the CDC and was the associate director for policy until May 2022, and she fears that the lack of expertise of workers will undermine US HIV prevention efforts. There’s another tragedy on top of another tragedy. “That will hurt people, will cause people to die and will cause significant increased costs to all of us throughout the country.”
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is a senior science reporter covering energy and the environment with more than a decade of experience. She is also the host of Hell or High Water: When Disaster Hits Home , a podcast from Vox Media and Audible Originals.
Thousands of people who work at the CDC were notified by email today that they were subject to the Trump administration’s efforts to cull federal workforce jobs, Wired reports. The Washington Post says that top officials were put on administrative leave, laid off, or moved to remote roles.
“We’re going to have patients die, Jade Pagkas-Bather, an infectious disease doctor at the University of Chicago, tells Wired. There are unnecessary, preventable deaths.
The director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research resigned on Friday, stating that truth and transparency are not wanted by the Secretary, but rather he wishes subservient confirmation of his lies.
Robert Califf, FDA commissioner under Joe Biden and Barack Obama, said today that the FDA is done with most of its leaders who have a deep understanding of product development and safety.