What just happened

Yesterday marks 6 months since the start of sweeping cuts to America’s health and science infrastructure. Changes have come so quickly (and confusingly) in the midst of an already chaotic news cycle, it has been hard to keep up with the scope of the shifts that are taking place.

To help wrap our brains around how America’s health infrastructure has changed in the last 6 months, here is a (partial) list of what just happened:

• US withdraws from the World Health Organization (WHO)
• The entire US Agency for International Development (USAID) — which provided food, medicine, and other humanitarian aid to impoverished areas around the world — was dismantled, a move that will cause an estimated 14 million deaths by 2030, one third of whom are children under 5
• RFK Jr — a long-time critic of vaccines, germ theory, and experts — confirmed as HHS secretary
• Thousands of HHS employees at the CDC, FDA, and NIH fired
• Scientific grants flagged for “banned words,” including the word “women”
• Over 100 clinical trials — some focusing on substance use, heart disease, and cancer prevention — abruptly lost funding, forcing many researchers to immediately pause or cancel trials
• The CDC Center for Chronic Disease Prevention downsized by one third
• $11 billion in COVID-era funding to local public health departments rescinded
• FDA removed information supporting enrollment of women and minority groups in clinical trials
• Thousands of NIH and National Science Foundation research grants cancelled
• “Indirect funds” cut by millions, which support research space, equipment, and staff at universities
• CDC ‘wild to mild’ flu vaccine campaign cancelled
• Funds for PEPFAR frozen — the program that provides HIV medicines to impoverished communities worldwide and is credited with saving 25 million lives (this one got push back).
• Dr. Oz appointed head of Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
• Over $1 trillion cut from Medicaid, Children’s Health Insurance Program, and the Affordable Care Act, which is projected cause over 10 million Americans to lose health insurance
• $1 billion FEMA program cancelled that helped communities prepare for natural disasters like floods and fires
• Proposed cuts to the Women, Infant, and Children nutrition program that provides fruits, vegetables, and other nutritious foods to low income mothers (2026 budget proposal)
• National Science Foundation funding of new research cut in half
• $287 billion cut from SNAP, which helps 42 million Americans buy food
• US stopped funding Gavi, an international program that provides vaccines to children in impoverished parts of the world, preventing an estimate 19 million deaths since 2000
• Entire CDC vaccine advisory panel (ACIP) fired and replaced with people lacking experience in vaccine science — several of whom are well known for widely spreading false information about vaccines
• Measles hits highest level since it was declared eliminated in the US in 2000
• Grants cancelled that aimed to study the impact of pesticides on children in agricultural communities and keeping “forever chemicals” out of the food supply
• Safe to Sleep campaign cancelled, which aims to prevent sleep-related infant deaths
• There is still no CDC director
• Montana expands ‘right to try’ law to allow clinics to sell experimental treatments (such as stem cell therapies) to healthy individuals without needing phase II and III clinical trials to determine if they work
• $140 million in funding for fentanyl overdose response efforts delayed or cancelled
• Vaccine skeptic who was disciplined for practicing medicine without a license hired to lead a government study of vaccines and autism (it has already been studied in over 1 million children and found to have no link).
• Plan to eliminate the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’s research arm, which studies the impact environmental toxins, wildfire smoke, and contaminated drinking water
• Health insurance companies are requesting the largest premium increase in 5 years for the Affordable Care Act marketplace
• FDA Commissioner announces (un)official(?) change in COVID vaccine recommendations which could eliminate access for healthcare workers and family members of high risk individuals
• Government health report published with fake citations, likely generated by AI
• Proposal to cut NIH research funding by nearly half (43%), including a 37% cut to cancer research (2026 budget proposal)
• HHS secretary celebrates fast-food restaurant’s transition to selling soda with cane sugar as a win for making America healthy
• Many US researchers are considering leaving the country

While the argument for many of these changes is that the government needs to reduce spending to eliminate debt, the national debt is projected to increase.

Note: There have been many cuts, or announcement of cuts which then are said to be restored, but then not actually restored, or restored to former shell of themselves, or restored on paper but the funding never actually shows up. If you see something on here that was announced as cut and later truly reinstated, let me know.

Kristen Panthagani, MD, PhD, is completing a combined emergency medicine residency and research fellowship focusing on health literacy and communication. In her free time, she is the creator of the newsletter You Can Know Things and author of Your Local Epidemiologist’s section on Health (Mis)communication. You can subscribe to her website below or find her on Substack, Instagram, or Bluesky. Views expressed belong to KP, not her employer.