August 8, 2025
This week the US administration cancelled $500 million in mRNA vaccine contracts (see AVAC’s statement) while a Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation found the NIH grant freezes violated the law. The Gates Foundation committed $2.5 billion to women’s health R&D, and South Africa is investing to protect its national research capacity in the face of US funding cuts.
US Administration Cancels mRNA Vaccine Contracts
US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced plans to defund $500 million in grants issued by the Biomedical Advanced Research Development Authority (BARDA), which supports 22 mRNA vaccine development projects. He cited unvalidated and spurious concerns that mRNA technology lacks effectiveness against upper respiratory viruses such as COVID‑19 and influenza. The move was widely condemned by vaccine researchers, who expressed alarm that defunding this rapidly scalable vaccine development platform will leave the US more vulnerable to infectious disease outbreaks. This latest action also added to the litany of anti-vaccine decisions. “Actions to take apart the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), to cancel grants to the Consortia for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development (CHAVDs), to cease contributions to Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, and now to cancel BARDA support for mRNA vaccines are a red alert all around the world, signaling the US retreat from advancing vaccine development and delivery,” said AVAC’s Mitchell Warren in a statement.
IMPLICATIONS: This decision is part of a broader pattern to systematically decimate investments in vaccine development programs and delivery systems and continue to sow ideologically driven vaccine misinformation. These actions will bring harmful policies that threaten lives and undermine efforts to advance effective, evidence-based health interventions.
READ:
- Kennedy Cancels Nearly $500 Million in mRNA Vaccine Contracts—New York Times
- Why mRNA Vaccines Are So Revolutionary—And What’s at Stake if We Lose Them—Scientific American
- Watch: Federal mRNA funding cut is ‘most dangerous public health decision’ ever, expert says—PBS News Hour
- Call for Global Strategy to Counter ‘Vaccine Misinformation from the US’—Health Policy Watch
- AVAC Condemns Administration’s Further Actions to Dismantle and Deconstruct U.S. Government Vaccine Research and Delivery Infrastructure—AVAC statement
US Government Accountability Office Finds Cancellation of NIH Research Grants Illegal
A new report from the US Government Accountability Office (GAO) concluded that the US administration acted unlawfully when it ordered the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to cancel 1,800 research grants and delay funding decisions earlier this year. The GAO found that these actions violated the Impoundment Control Act, which prohibits the executive branch from withholding or canceling Congressionally appropriated funds without proper notification. This is one of at least seven investigations where the GAO has found legal violations by the executive branch, with nearly 50 additional cases under review.
IMPLICATIONS: A federal court ruled in June that the grant cancellations were illegal and this report from the GAO is not legally binding, but it does have the power to influence Congressional action. Advocates have continued to push to fully restore NIH grant funding. (See AVAC’s Research Matters resource for more.) As Senator Patty Murray noted, “The longer this goes on, the more clinical trials that will be cut short, labs that will shutter, and lifesaving research that will never see the light of day.”
READ:
- NIH broke law by withholding funding: GAO—The Hill
- Trump administration violated impoundment law by canceling NIH grants, slowing new awards, GAO finds—STAT
Gates Foundation Commits to Funding $2.5 billion in Women’s Health R&D Through 2030
The Gates Foundation announced a five-year, $2.5 billion commitment to accelerate R&D focused exclusively on women’s health through 2030. The funds will support more than 40 initiatives across five critical areas: obstetric care and maternal immunization; maternal health and nutrition; gynecological and menstrual health; contraceptive innovation; and sexually transmitted infection (STI) solutions. According to the Foundation’s announcement, these investments are aimed at a “new era of women‑centered innovation,” particularly focused on low‑ and middle‑income countries where research gaps are most pronounced.
IMPLICATIONS: This major pledge is good news and may hopefully spark other donors to align with these priorities, but this commitment is still just a “drop in the bucket” given longstanding underinvestment in female-specific health research. Ensuring future innovations in women’s health are community-centered, equitable, and accessible across diverse settings will require advocates to help shape the R&D agenda, push for sustained funding, and promote integration with the broader HIV and STI landscapes.
READ:
- A $2.5 billion pledge makes women’s health a priority in Gates Foundation spend-down—Associated Press
- Watch: Gates Foundation pledges $2.5B for women’s health worldwide—PBS News Hour
- Why investing in women’s health is good for business—Fortune
- Gates Foundation to Invest $2.5 billion in Women’s Health Amid Debilitating US Funding Cuts—Health Policy Watch
South African Government Invests in National Health Research Enterprise
The South African government announced a 400 million Rand investment (approximately $22.5 million) over three years to protect its national health research enterprise. This is in response to the abrupt withdrawal of US funding to South African research and researchers, which is particularly devastating for HIV and TB research. Importantly, this investment will leverage an additional R200 million (approximately $11.3 million), split equally between the Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust. This collective funding will be used to support research programs threatened by the cuts, including those focused on HIV, TB, mental health, and maternal and child health. The South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) has already this week issued a request for applications (RFA) for eligible research programs to maintain vital infrastructure, staffing, and academic capacity.
IMPLICATIONS: This emergency investment is a powerful example of local and global partners stepping in to stabilize essential health research amid destabilizing US policy shifts.
READ: South Africa and Global Partners Mobilis
Updates From the STI & HIV 2025 World Congress
Last week, more than 1,400 participants gathered in Montreal for the STI & HIV World Congress, where they shared urgent insights, promising innovations, and calls to action. The gathering came at a pivotal moment when rates of STIs are rising globally, highlighting the importance of people-centered approaches, addressing stigma, and the need for new vaccines and diagnostics. All this amid massive disruptions caused by shifts in US policies and funding and decreased investments from other funders.
What We’re Reading
- The funding scramble: countries desperately seek HIV finance solutions—aidsmap
- US Aid Cuts Could Trigger Global Health Setbacks—Newsweek
- The Trump Administration Is Promoting Its Anti-Trans Agenda Globally at the United Nations—ProPublica
- Harm reduction techniques being phased out under Trump—Rollcall
- Deep dive: The unraveling of USAID—Devex
- African Summit Looks for Solutions to Health Funding Crisis—Health Policy Watch
- The HIV/AIDS pandemic: where are we now?—AIDS
- New strategies for HIV prevention in a shifting funding landscape—Touch Infectious Diseases
- Addressing Transgender Erasure in HIV Clinical Trials: The Scorecard for Transgender and Gender-Diverse Inclusion—American Journal of Public Health
- What’s New & Next in HIV Prevention: Update on Research & Development AND Delivery—AVAC and Centers for AIDS Research
Join AVAC and partners next week for two important conversations on what’s needed to achieve equity and scale in the next era of PrEP.
