Global Health Watch: Fauci in Contempt + New NIAID Director, Senate Blocks OMB’s Grant Proposal, New CDC Director, AIDS 2026 Highlights

Issue 80

August 7, 2026

This week, the US Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs voted along party lines to hold Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress for his refusal to answer questions during last week’s hearing on the COVID-19 response testimony – while it was rumored that Steven Quay, a lab-leak proponent, is in line for Fauci’s old job. At the same time, the US Senate Appropriations Committee did step up to stop the White House OMB’s politicization of federal research grants. There’s also – finally – a new leader of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). And the HIV/AIDS community is unpacking major themes emerging from the AIDS 2026 conference.

Anthony Fauci and the Future of NIAID

The US Senate Committee on Homeland Security & Governmental Affairs voted Thursday to hold former NIAID Director Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress, raising a years-long political campaign against him just a week after he was grilled by Republican Senators for hours over the COVID-19 pandemic and its origins. Much of the scientific and public health community rallied around him after his appearance: “Dr. Fauci is a public health pioneer, who has saved more lives than anyone sitting in the Senate today. He has dedicated his life to public service. Because of Tony Fauci, science has moved faster, lives have been saved and communities are more engaged in every phase of infectious disease research,” wrote AVAC’s Executive Director in a statement. “[Fauci’s] career was built on evidence, intellectual rigor and an unwavering commitment to improving people’s lives,” wrote American Society for Microbiology CEO Stefano Bertuzzi in a letter to the committee, calling Fauci’s scientific record “the gold standard.”

Following the hearing, Health and Human Services Secretary (HHS), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (RFK Jr.) appeared in media interviews targeting Fauci and pushing misinformation on vaccines and medical information, all while preparing to appoint Steven Quay, a pharmaceutical executive and prominent advocate of the COVID lab-leak theory (and longtime Fauci critic) to lead NIAID, the agency Fauci and then Jeanne Marrazzo directed for nearly four decades and which oversees $6.5 billion in annual research funding. Quay was not even among the finalists interviewed for the role, but Kennedy selected him nonetheless, according to Politico. Quay—a physician and pathologist—could become the first NIAID director drawn from the pharmaceutical industry rather than academia or the NIH, despite lacking formal training in infectious diseases.

IMPLICATIONS: Quay’s expected appointment would mark a major shift in the leadership and direction of NIAID, which is arguably the world’s most influential biomedical research agency. This, along with the Senate Committee’s decision to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress signals that alignment with the Administration’s ideology is more important than scientific expertise in setting US research priorities and public health policy. Together, the message is clear: if you dare to challenge political ideology, it has consequences. This will likely have a chilling effect on researchers and scientists reluctant serve in government and speak out during health crises.

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US Senate Blocks White House OMB’s Grant Proposal Temporarily

This week US Senators on both sides of the political aisle moved to temporarily block the White House Office of Management and Budget’s (OMB) proposal to give political appointees greater authority over grant decisions and weaken the role of scientific peer review. In a stopgap spending bill released by Senate appropriators, Democrats and Republicans joined in adding a provision that would prevent the OMB rule from taking effect until at least December 11, while Congress negotiates broader government funding measures. The proposal was originally slated to go into effect on October 1, but opposition from appropriators, including Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins, slowed the path forward.

IMPLICATIONS: This development suggests that months of public opposition and advocacy from the advocacy and scientific community may be beginning to influence policymakers. The Senate’s intervention is one of the first signs that resistance to the OMB proposal extends beyond the scientific community and into both parties in Congress. However, the delay is only temporary, and, if implemented, the rule could fundamentally reshape the US research enterprise by injecting political considerations into grantmaking, weakening peer review and undermining the international collaborations that drive progress against HIV, emerging infectious diseases and other global health challenges.

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US Senate Confirms New Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Leader

The US Senate confirmed Erica Schwartz as the next director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), after a year without a confirmed leader. Schwartz is a former deputy surgeon general and chief medical officer of the US Coast Guard. During her controversial confirmation hearing, she agreed to uphold scientific integrity and transparency, but did not challenge or speak to RFK Jr.’s position on vaccines and other controversial health policies.

IMPLICATIONS: Schwartz will take over the agency, which has seen a major reduction of its workforce, political battles over vaccine policy and mounting public health threats. While her appointment to the leadership post may bring some stability, many public health leaders question whether she is able to lead an independent CDC outside of the Administration’s political pressure as RFK Jr. continues to attempt to reshape federal health policy. Will Schwartz defend scientific evidence, particularly on vaccines, infectious diseases and outbreak preparedness? That is the question the many advocates and leaders are waiting to answer.

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International AIDS Conference Wraps Up: Rising Above to Meet the Moment

The International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2026) concluded last Friday. It was marked by extraordinary scientific progress and growing political and financial uncertainty. New data showed the consequences of the US Administration’s retreat from global health leadership, with nearly 2,000 HIV service sites closed and prevention programs for key populations severely disrupted following cuts to PEPFAR and other foreign-aid programs. While delegates applauded Merck’s decision to license its investigational monthly oral PrEP pill, alimatravir, to generic manufacturers before Phase 3 trials are complete, leaders warned that supply shortages threaten the rollout of injectable lenacapavir for PrEP (LEN) and called attention to the exclusion of Latin America in access agreements despite its central role in clinical research. Other major advances in prevention, treatment and cure, including innovative community-based and pharmacy delivery models for long-acting prevention and news of two more patients with HIV and cancer were cured following stem cell transplants for cancer treatment were presented showing the promise of new technologies, but the conversation focused on whether they can be developed and deployed feasibly and at scale.

IMPLICATIONS: AIDS 2026 underscored a stark reality: the greatest barriers to ending HIV are increasingly political rather than scientific. Across sessions on prevention, vaccines, cure research, artificial intelligence and service delivery, one theme emerged repeatedly: innovation alone is not enough. As AVAC’s Mitchell Warren shared in a commentary, translating scientific breakthroughs into public-health impact will require sustained political commitment, financing, supply chains and delivery systems that can move with speed, scale and equity. As governments cut funding and retreat from longstanding partnerships, the conference made clear that communities are not merely beneficiaries of the HIV response, they are its leaders, and the future of the epidemic will depend on their ability to shape the research, policies and programs that come next.

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