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The Trump administration has terminated funding for several major HIV vaccine research initiatives, redirecting resources toward existing prevention methods instead of continued vaccine development efforts.
The Department of Health and Human Services instructed researchers this week that it would discontinue support for vaccine research programs that have operated for more than a decade, according to reports Friday. The decision affects leading research institutions, including the Duke Human Vaccine Institute and Scripps Research Institute, both recipients of National Institutes of Health funding since 2012.
Moderna confirmed that clinical trials supported by the NIH's HIV Vaccine Trials Network have been suspended as part of the broader funding cuts.
A senior NIH official said the agency received direction from HHS to halt approval of new HIV vaccine research funding for the upcoming fiscal year, with only limited exceptions. The administration also implemented new budget accounting rules that will require HIV vaccine grants to count their full multi-year costs within a single fiscal year, creating additional barriers to future funding.
HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard said the cuts aim to address complexity and duplication within HIV/AIDS programs. The agency seeks to "maximize the impact of federal spending" and improve oversight of 27 separate HIV/AIDS programs that have received $7.5 billion in funding, she said.
"Critical HIV/AIDS programs will continue" under a proposed new agency called the Administration for a Healthy America, according to Hilliard. HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has proposed the new entity as part of broader health department restructuring.
Dennis Burton, an immunology professor at Scripps Research, criticized the timing of the cuts, pointing to recent progress in clinical trials.
"This is a setback of probably a decade for HIV vaccine research," Burton said, calling the decision "terrible."
No HIV prevention vaccine currently exists, according to HIV.gov, the government's primary online HIV information resource. Scientists worldwide have been working with NIH support to develop an effective vaccine against the virus that causes AIDS.
The funding cuts represent a significant shift in federal HIV research priorities, moving resources away from long-term vaccine development toward established prevention strategies.
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