Cuts to HIV Vaccine Research Come Amid Challenges to Other Vaccines, Treatment

In a move that continues the Trump administration’s opposition to HIV research and prevention, it was announced they would be terminating HIV vaccine studies primarily affecting the Duke Human Vaccine Institute, the Scripps Research Institute, Moderna’s clinical trials through the HIV Vaccines Trial Network.1 These decisions come at a time when HIV treatment and prevention efforts and vaccine research have come under fire from the administration.

Programs looking for an HIV vaccine were discontinued at the end of May, continuing a trend of cutting back on HIV and vaccine research. | Image credit: weyo - stock.adobe.com

Treatment and prevention of HIV has been a sticking point for the Trump administration, coming under fire soon after the inauguration. The administration has made several cuts to the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief,2 rid the CDC of the Division of HIV Prevention,3 and cut money for several studies related to HIV in March.4 These actions have put HIV research, prevention, and treatment in a dangerous position, with the potential for these cuts to leave many without improved methods of addressing HIV.

The announcement of the plans to cut the HIV vaccine program is another blow to HIV research nationwide. The cuts total $258 million dedicated to a program that did research into a potential vaccine,5 with advisement to the NIH to not approve any future studies on an HIV vaccine.1 The Trump administration is also seeking to change budgetary rules so that upfront costs of HIV vaccines would be accounted for in 1 year as opposed to multiple years, making it harder for these studies to be approved.

Vaccines, in general, have been a subject of dispute in the Trump administration, with Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, removing all members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices on June 9,6 continuing a trend of vaccine skepticism from the HHS secretary. Between these decisions, it is unclear how vaccines and vaccine development will evolve in the future and how these decisions will affect HIV vaccine research overall.

The Trump administration claims it will be focusing their efforts on currently available approaches to eliminating HIV, and that all critical programs related to HIV/AIDS will continue under the Administration for a Healthy America (AHA), which is the agency proposed by Kennedy as part of his overall health plan in America.1 The HHS budget proposal released on June 10 indicates that the budget for AHA will be partially derived from redirected CDC funds, with the CDC taking a $5 billion cut.7 This includes consolidating HIV/AIDS prevention and research that would cut $794 million for prevention and $1 billion to HIV/AIDS overall vs the 2024 fiscal year.

This move also comes as experts in HIV await the approval of lenacapavir, which has been shown to be near 100% effective in preventing HIV in the PURPOSE 2 trial (NCT04925752).8 It is unknown how the twice-yearly injection will be introduced to vulnerable populations in the US given the cuts to the vaccine and prevention programs should the FDA give the green light to the treatment on the planned decision date of June 19.

The decisions made by the Trump administration regarding funding for HIV vaccines and prevention threaten the ability to end the HIV epidemic going forward. Even as new research is being done to find new means of preventing HIV, a cure for the virus still is the goal to ending the epidemic. This decision could be a big step back in not only domestic solutions but global solutions for a cure to HIV, as well as reducing the incidence of the virus throughout the globe.

References

1. Gounder C, Tin A. Trump administration ending multiple HIV vaccine studies, scientists and officials say. CBS News. May 30, 2025. Accessed June 11, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-administration-ending-multiple-hiv-vaccine-studies/

2. Bonavitacola J. Cuts to PEPFAR spell detrimental HIV outcomes in South Africa. AJMC®. February 13, 2025. Accessed June 11, 2025. https://www.ajmc.com/view/cuts-to-pepfar-spell-detrimental-hiv-outcomes-in-south-africa

3. Bonavitacola J. Elimination of HIV prevention could have consequences for HIV response. AJMC. March 25, 2025. Accessed June 11, 2025. https://www.ajmc.com/view/elimination-of-division-of-hiv-prevention-could-have-consequences-for-hiv-response

4. Nirappil F. Deep cuts to HIV research could halt decades of progress, scientists say. The Washington Post. April 4, 2025. Accessed June 11, 2025. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/04/04/hiv-trump-cuts-prep/

5. Mandavilli A.Trump administration ends program critical to search for an H.I.V. vaccine. The New York Times. May 30, 2025. Accessed June 11, 2025. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/30/health/trump-hiv-cuts.html

6. Grossi G. RFK Jr sweeps clean CDC vaccine advisory panel, aiming to bolster public confidence. AJMC. June 9, 2025. Accessed June 11, 2025. https://www.ajmc.com/view/rfk-jr-sweeps-clean-cdc-vaccine-advisory-panel-aiming-to-bolster-public-confidence

7. Gold R, Ingram J. HHS budget proposal eliminates CDC’s chronic disease, global health centers in favor of new “MAHA” agency. CBS News. June 10, 2025. Accessed June 11, 2025. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/hhs-budget-proposal-cdc-chronic-disease-global-health-maha-agency/

8. Kelley CF, Acevedo-Quiñones M, Agwu AL, et al. Twice-yearly lenacapavir for HIV prevention in men and gender-diverse persons. N Engl J Med. 2025;392(13):1261-1276. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2411858