This week in public hell—um, health. June 20, 2025. (But also some good news!)
A big round-up here of six items you’ll want to know about—including two pieces of good news. I hope you find it useful. Please continue to send your feedback. As always, thanks for supporting Inside Medicine!
Let’s get to it…
CDC finally has an “all-hands.” Mixed reviews. Plus, updates on proposed funding cuts.
The CDC held its first “all-hands” meeting this week, with details reported in STAT News, which I was able to independently confirm with several sources at the agency.
Some of the session was devoted to “myth busting.” Among the debunked myths was the notion that Matthew Buzzelli is the acting Director of the CDC, a falsehood that Secretary Kennedy stated on May 14 during a Senate HELP committee hearing (first reported in Inside Medicine). Another myth addressed was that the CDC remains under a communications pause. While CDC leaders said that no such pause is in place, some staffers told me they remain unsure what actually is permitted. They’re also wondering when the comms pause ended, as there was never any specific announcement other than at the meeting this week, when the issue was addressed as a “myth” to be overturned. In fact, one CDC staffer told me that there was laughter in the overflow room when a Trump appointee said there was no comms pause. (What’s in place now was described to me by a CDC employee as an improvement but that there was still “a chilling effect.”)
Staffers I spoke to were largely unimpressed by most of the messaging at the meeting. What they told me echoed the play-by-play posted on Bluesky by the “Alt CDC” account, including some details that were not otherwise reported in the media.
Included in the update was this slide entitled “workforce reshaping.” The slide was an acknowledgment that some of the pushback against the reductions in force have been successful (read: lawsuits and “oops, turns out we need occupational safety scientists”), but also a slap in the face. “The way they phrased it is “500+” “180+” etc C’mon. We are CDC. We love data. Give us the actual numbers. These are people. Our colleagues and friends,” Alt CDC wrote.
Meanwhile, a group of former CDC employees has started “The CDC Data Project,” which published a superb data summary this week highlighting the impact the latest version of the proposed 2026 budget would have, if enacted. The latest proposal specifies $5 billion in cuts to CDC ($4.3 billion down from $9.3 billion). Notably, the summary distinguishes between funding that would be eliminated and programs that would be moved, which are important differences. For example, the graphs make it clear that $1.4 billion in proposed cuts in chronic disease prevention programs are not showing up elsewhere. Indeed, most of the cuts to CDC programs are not simply being redistributed to other HHS entities. The cuts are pure losses—ranging from HIV to injury prevention to occupational safety. One bright side: funding for emerging and zoonotic infections (i.e., pathogens spread to humans from animals) is “only” being cut by $56 million, with $704 million remaining. More detailed information can be found on an interactive dashboard.
Trump administration cancels funding for specialized LGBTQ+ support for suicide hotline callers.
Here’s another public health asset that the Trump administration is trying to ruin: You’ve heard of 988, right? It’s the streamlined national suicide hotline, created in 2022. To help improve its effectiveness, the federal government funded The Trevor Project to provide specialized support for young LGBTQ+ people. That’s important because data show that, “LGBTQ+ young people are more than four times as likely to attempt suicide than their peers.”
If you were worried that this is something the Trump administration would cut, you’re correct. A stop work order went out this week, The New York Times reported, ending the partnership. In a related story, The Trevor Project reports that“90% of LGBTQ+ young people said their well-being was negatively impacted due to recent politics.” Gee, I wonder why.
Senator Sanders calls for inquiry into CDC vaccine committee firings.
Last week, HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sacked all seventeen members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee. He then replaced them with “losers” (that’s according to RealClearHealth). Senator Bernie Sanders wrote to the chair of the Senate HELP Committee, Senator—and RFK simp—Bill Cassidy, requesting a bipartisan investigation into the actions. I’m not sure much will come of that, but pressure matters, so I applaud the effort.
Open tab: The New York Times’ David Wallace-Wells published an authoritative account of RFK Jr.’s full-throttle attack on vaccines entitled, “I Think He Is About to Destroy Vaccines in This Country.” The essay includes a discussion of research that Inside Medicine contributor Benjy Renton and I preprinted a few months ago in which we found that vaccine rates in US kindergarteners are down in recent years, but mostly in red states.
Grant Watch update. The Trump administration continues to undermine the future of science.
We have an update from Grant Watch, thanks to Dr. Noam Ross, Dr. Scott Delaney, and Ms. Emma Mairson (a public health data scientist who makes the weekly report).
Cuts to research since President Trump took office now total over $3.2 billion, though the number of active grants increased to 78,354, compared to 77,807 last week. But fear not. The Trump administration continues to find new ways to push back on decades of scientific progress.
At least that’s what I take away from Emma Mairson’s analysis…
“My major takeaway is that many Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) programs were cut. This mechanism appears to be dwindling. From a quick look in RePORTER, there are no T34s [short-term undergraduate training grants] in the 2025 fiscal year. The remaining active T34s have not reached the end of their current budget year (all end 7/31/2025).”—Emma Mairson, Grant Watch.
What is MARC? According to the NIH website earlier this year, “the MARC U-STAR program is an INSTITUTIONAL undergraduate research training program that is designed to provide structured training to high-achieving, underrepresented (UR) students to prepare them for doctoral programs in biomedical research fields.”
But according to the NIH’s website at the moment, “The requested page could not be found.”
Ah yes, draining the swamp by eliminating funding for future scientists.
Two good news stories plus one extra thing…
It’s nice when there’s decent news to share.
The NIH has been ordered to reinstate hundreds of terminated research grants. The ruling was made by a Reagan appointee, US District Judge William G. Young (a Harvard graduate, as it happens). The order called the Trump administration out on its blatant censorship. How soon the funding will be restored is another issue. Some judicial rulings have been followed by the Trump administration more quickly than others. For example, The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Stephanie Lee reported this week that the administration has given Columbia University whiplash on restored funding—with reports saying that grants could once again be offered to the school, only to be followed by emails and public messaging to the contrary.
Open tab: A story posted on the Harvard School of Public Health’s website includes quotes from one of the lawsuit plaintiffs.
The FDA granted approval for the use of lenacapavir for HIV prevention (also known as pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP). The news was celebrated widely, including by the WHO. The long-acting antiviral medication was studied in jaw-dropping clinical trials published last year and was found to be nearly perfect in preventing new infections. More importantly, the drug was found to be effective with just two injections per year. Those results were seen as a major breakthrough, even though the mechanism of action is not new. Similar medications have been shown to prevent HIV infections, but the requirement of frequent dosing has lowered real-world effectiveness. That’s the problem that lenacapavir solves. Twice-yearly injections that prevent HIV infections are about as close to a vaccine as science has come. Now the issue will be figuring out cost effectiveness and equity.
Open tab: An October 2024 blog posting from the NIH highlighting how lenacapavir’s success built on years of US taxpayer investment in basic science research. You know…the stuff that’s being cut by this administration with reckless abandon.
That’s all for now. Thanks for reading and supporting science, facts, and the actual American way!
If you have information about any of the unfolding stories we are following, please email me or find me on Signal at InsideMedicine.88.
Dr. Faust is providing a vital public service. His clear, courageous and timely reporting is exactly what public health and the public need right now.
Thanks for doing the heavy lifting to bring all of us this overwhelming and important information!