January 20, 2026
AVAC’s ‘One Year Later’ series reflects on the tumultuous events of the past 365 days across five global health issues. Our second piece is below. View the full series here.
In less than a year, actions by the new US Presidential Administration have resulted in an unprecedented dismantling of vaccine science and abdication of the country’s historic role as a leader in evidence-based public health. Driven by ideology, these actions have systematically undermined research institutions, disrupted long-standing vaccine programs, and fueled confusion and mistrust in and outside the US. As tracked in AVAC’s Global Health Watch, the cumulative effect of these actions has had worldwide consequences for vaccine development, delivery, and confidence.
The implications for global health moving forward are stark. Vaccine science is cumulative: today’s innovations depend on investments made over many years. Undermining the research infrastructure now risks slowing progress for years to come—for HIV, other STIs and infectious diseases, pandemic preparedness, routine immunization, and emerging threats. And retreating from global partnerships weakens multilateral systems precisely when coordination and solidarity are most needed.
In just 12 months, the US administration has systematically weakened the scientific ecosystem supporting vaccine development and delivery. In May, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced that funding for the Consortia for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Development (CHAVD) would end after the current grant cycle in June 2026. CHAVD is a network of unique collaborations linking basic immunology and early-stage clinical testing. This decision eliminates approximately $67 million annually (~10% of global HIV vaccine research funding) at a moment when sustained investment is essential to build on decades of scientific progress. Ending CHAVD does not merely reduce funding; it dismantles collaborative networks, erodes institutional memory, and slows the discovery process that vaccine science requires.
The Administration then cancelled $500 million in Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) grants supporting mRNA vaccine research and development. These investments had positioned the US as a leader in a platform with transformative potential for cancer, influenza, RSV, HIV, and other infectious diseases. As The Guardian noted, mRNA vaccines represent the future of immunization “with or without Donald Trump.” Abandoning this platform sends a chilling signal to researchers, manufacturers, and global partners alike.
The damage has not been confined to research funding. Members of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP), a gold-standard panel of medical experts representing the country’s top experts on vaccine science and the cornerstone of evidence-based vaccine policy, were replaced with a mix of anti-vaccine, anti-science representatives, undermining the independence and credibility of a body that guides vaccine recommendations relied on by clinicians and public health programs worldwide, and prompting wide concern from medical experts, including the American Medical Association. Simultaneously, language on CDC websites was quietly altered to reflect anti-science and anti-vaccine rhetoric, further fueling confusion and mistrust.
In August, Paul Offit, a pediatrician, leading vaccine expert, and co-inventor of the rotavirus vaccine was removed from the FDA’s Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee. And soon after, the President publicly challenged pharmaceutical companies to “prove” that their COVID-19 vaccines still work, despite overwhelming and ongoing evidence of their safety and effectiveness.
Compounding these disruptions, new pediatric vaccine recommendations were issued departing from long-standing, evidence-based guidance without scientific justification or consensus from pediatric and public health experts. As Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) reports, providers and families are grappling with mixed messages about vaccine timing, safety, and necessity. As the year ended, a federal court ruled in favor of major medical societies, including the American Academy of Pediatrics to proceed in their lawsuit against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) challenging changes to COVID-19 vaccine policy and replacement of members of the ACIP with people who lack the credentials and required experience.
More recently, RFK Jr. appointees at the CDC made an unethical study in Guinea-Bissau a “funding priority”, awarding funds to two Danish researchers who have faced accusations of “questionable research practices”. Katherine Eban describes the full anti-science, ideologic story in Rolling Stone.
Perhaps most alarming for global health, the US halted its support for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance. For more than two decades, Gavi has been one of the most effective mechanisms for expanding access to life-saving vaccines in low- and middle-income countries. As Seth Berkley wrote in Science, Gavi is “a model for international, public-private collaboration that works with countries to provide vaccines for about half of the world’s children and has been a powerful force behind the halving of global child mortality in the last 25 years. Gavi also… [maintains] the global stockpiles of cholera, Ebola, meningitis, and yellow fever vaccines.” US withdrawal threatens immunization programs far beyond its borders, putting millions of children at risk and destabilizing fragile health systems.
As AVAC’s Alison Footman PhD, MPH warned in an August statement, “These actions dangerously sow vaccine disinformation and mistrust, which has proliferated since the COVID-19 pandemic. Dangerous ideology results in dangerous policymaking, putting many lives at stake and complicating efforts to both discover and implement clinical and cost-effective interventions.” That warning has only grown more urgent. Public trust—once lost—is extraordinarily difficult to rebuild, and vaccine hesitancy fueled in one country reverberates globally through media, politics, and policy.
This moment clarifies what is at stake, and what must be defended. Science works when it is grounded in evidence, and accountable to communities. Vaccines remain one of the most powerful tools in public health history, capable of saving millions of lives when paired with trust, access, and sustained commitment.