As the administration enters its second year, policy retrenchment continues, though pockets of hopeful resilience persist. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s skepticism about vaccine safety has shaped national vaccine policy and raised concerns. Researchers and manufacturers are increasingly worried that regulatory decisions may become less predictable. These concerns grew when the FDA initially declined to review Moderna’s influenza vaccine application, a move some analysts viewed as a negative signal for future vaccine development, though the agency has since agreed to review the application. Recent leadership changes at HHS have further unsettled agencies known for their scientific focus. Additionally, the administration announced plans to reclaim $600 million in public health funding from California and three other Democrat-led states, a move seen as partisan.
Globally, results are mixed. The United States has completed its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, suspended funding to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and expanded abortion-related restrictions in foreign aid. According to a Lancet study, the reduction in global funding over the past year could, in a worst-case scenario, result in 22.6 million deaths by 2030. However, in a bipartisan decision, Congress approved about $9.5 billion for global health. The result is a global health environment undergoing steady recalibration.
Resources
Advocacy and Mobilization
- Alliance members CUGH (here and here), DNDi, FHI 360 (here and here), For Our Health (here and here), Friends of the Global Fight (here and here), GAIA, Gavi (here and here), Gilead Sciences, Global Health Corps (here and here), Global Health Council (here and here), Global Health Technologies Coalition (here and here), IDEO.org (here and here), inSupply Health, Maya Health Alliance | Wuqu’ Kawoq, MedShare, Nexleaf Analytics (here and here), North Carolina Global Health Alliance (here and here), PATH (here and here), Pathfinder (here and here), Population Services International (here and here), Public Health Institute, ReSurge International, Sabin Vaccine Institute, Seed Global Health (here and here), San Francisco Community Health Center (here and here), Stanford (here and here), UC Berkeley (here and here), UCGHI, UCSF (here and here), UNICEF (here and here), USA for UNFPA, and Vital Strategies (here and here) have spoken with the press or issued statements.
- Find and Contact Your Representatives: U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate. Here is a list of key decision makers in Congress, their contact information, as well as sample language to consider.
Navigating the Legal Questions and Resources for Workers
- Humentum offers resources for navigating the foreign assistance pause.
- Connective Impact has launched an open-source resource document in response to the U.S. foreign aid policy shifts.
- Devex has summarized 5 rapid response funds for organizations affected by the US aid freeze.
- Just Security has a Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions.
- Tech Change is sharing a job board and resource curation for those impacted.
- Other job opportunities sites include: Philanthropy News Digest, Idealist.org, WorkforGOOD, FastForward, Reconsidered, The Impact Job, ExecSearches.com, and Foundationlist.org.
- Find a Job I Devex
- Nonprofit Jobs | Work for Good
- The Pivot Playbook
- Find and Fund Defunded Global Health Grants: database of defunded NIH global health research projects seeking support
- Founders Pledge: Nonprofit organization that works to bridge the gap between entrepreneurs and charities making impact in the world
- Fired but Fighting, a Coalition of Fired HHS Employees and Allies
Tracking Impact
- The Impact Metrics Dashboard (Boston University) visualizes the human impact of funding changes for aid and support organizations. The site has an impact tracker for PEPFAR, tuberculosis (TB), and Medicaid and is looking for additional collaborators. Read more.
- GHTC tracks how US investments in global health R&D are paying economic and health dividends in each state. (Learn more)
- Also see Center for Global Development I How Many Lives Does US Foreign Aid Save?
- KFF has a new series of fact sheets on the status of U.S. global health aid cuts, from maternal and child health to TB and malaria, and fact sheets on global health program impact.
- KFF also has an overview of President Trump’s executive actions on global health and a timeline of events that provides a detailed overview of actions (and counter-actions) related to the administration’s efforts to freeze all U.S. foreign aid and dissolve USAID.
- Grant Watch’s Weekly Terminated NIH Grants Report presents an overview of recent trends in NIH grant terminations, reinstatements, new grant initiations, and continuations.
- An overview of the last 30 days of what has happened to public health and a running list of actions by the Trump administration to undermine public health. [Jessica Knurick]
- Emory Rollins Public Health has shared data showing the impact of public health cuts.
- Devex Court Watch: The latest on the USAID docket
- Devex ‘The Trump Effect’, highlighting the latest news, in-depth analysis, and exclusive insights on how the Trump administration’s policies are reshaping global development.
- Gates Foundation I Health Aid Saves Lives. Don’t Cut It, provides an aggregation of US aid cut impacts
- ProPublica I Gutted: How Deeply Trump Has Cut Federal Health Agencies
- Verified and Vetted Science Accounts to Start Following for Public Health Accuracy [Cate Russel]
- State of Disunion: The Impact of Us Funding Cuts on Global Health R&D
- NEJM I Health and Medical Research Funding in a Divided America — How to Increase Support
- STAT+ | Tracking RFK Jr.’s Promises to Remake Health in America
- KFF: U.S. Global Health Country-Level Funding Tracker
- Health Security Policy Academy: U.S. Global Health Spending Watch
Sources
February 20, 2026
February 19, 2026
- Washington Post | After Leaving WHO, Trump Officials Propose More Expensive Replacement to Duplicate It
- MedPage Today | 16 NIH Institutes Have No Permanent Directors
- The Guardian | CDC Vaccine Panel Meeting Postponed Amid RFK Jr Bid to Reshape Policy
- Devex | US State Department Proposes Humanitarian Overhaul
February 18, 2026
- STAT+ | FDA Reverses Course, Agrees to Review Moderna’s Flu Vaccine
- STAT+ | NIH Director Bhattacharya to Lead CDC after O’Neill’s Exit
- AP | FDA Will Drop Two-Study Requirement for New Drug Approvals, Aiming to Speed Access
February 16, 2026
February 13, 2026
- STAT | Opinion | America’s Disease Surveillance System Is Going Dark. Here’s What We Can Build to Replace It
- Washington Post | White House, RFK Jr. Shake up Health Leadership after Controversies
- Reuters | White House Uses USAID Funds for Budget Director Vought’s Security, Documents Show
- Nature | Key US Infectious-Diseases Centre to Drop Pandemic Preparation
- STAT+ | Updated: Tracking RFK Jr.’s Promises to Remake Health in America [first published 9/10/25]
February 12, 2026
February 11, 2026
- STAT | WHO Director-General Calls Plans for US-Funded Vaccine Trial ‘Unethical’
- Reuters | Four States Sue Trump Administration over Cuts to Public Health Funding
- Inside Climate News | As the Trump EPA Prepares to Revoke Key Legal Finding on Climate Change, What Happens Next?
February 10, 2026
- Think Global Health | President Trump’s Mark on Global Health and Human Rights
- STAT+ | FDA Refuses to Review Moderna’s Influenza Vaccine
- Bloomberg | FTC Targets Medical Nonprofits in Trans Kids’ Health Probe
- MedPage Today | Here’s How Many Jobs HHS Has Lost Since RFK Jr. Took Over
- Devex, The Aid Report | US Aid Cut Impacts, One Year Later
- Washington Post | AMA Joins Effort to Launch Vaccine Science Review amid CDC Turmoil
February 9, 2026
February 8, 2026
February 6, 2026
- STAT | Opinion: Former FDA Commissioner: HHS Leadership Is Focused on Policy-Based Evidence, Not Evidence-Based Policy
- Devex | New Fund Revives USIAID’s ‘Discovery Engine’ Outside of Government
- STAT+ | ‘Moonshot’ Agency ARPA-H Lays off Staff Meant to Commercialize Breakthroughs
February 5, 2026
February 4, 2026
- Axios | Rural Care Could See Impact from Tighter Visa Rules
- Health Policy Watch | $9.42 Billion for Global Health as US Foreign Aid Bill Passes
February 3, 2026
- Axios | Trump Administration Pressed on Details of Drug Price Deals
- KFF Health News | NIH Grant Disruptions Slow Down Breast Cancer Research
- Devex | US Congress Passes $50 Billion Foreign Affairs Bill
- Devex | Aid Cuts Could Lead to Millions of Deaths by Decade’s End, New Study Finds
- Fierce Healthcare | NIH Turmoil Takes Center Stage as Director Acknowledges No Vaccine-Autism Link
February 2, 2026
- Washington Post | Global Aid Cuts Could Lead to 9.4 Million Deaths by 2030, Study Projects
- Wired | HHS Is Using AI Tools From Palantir to Target ‘DEI’ and ‘Gender Ideology’ in Grants
- Bernard Sanders | Stanford: Putting Cures Out of Reach: Trump’s National Institutes of Health
January 29, 2026
- Axios | RFK Jr. Taps Vaccine Critics for Federal Autism Advisory Panel
- Health Policy Watch | Gavi: US Freezes All Funds to Gavi Over Vaccine Preservative Thimerosal
- Devex | USAID Bars Its Own Experts from Agency Closeout Jobs
- The Hill | ACA Enrollment Drops by 1M-Plus after Subsidies Expire
- Health Policy Watch | Latest US Restrictions on Aid ‘Bully’ Recipients to Accept ‘Extremist Ideology’
- Devex | Trump’s ‘Donroe Doctrine’ Redraws US Foreign Aid Map
- Reuters | US Vaccine Changes Lead Some Parents to Question Other Newborn Care
January 28, 2026
- Mother Jones | HHS Will Allow Pharmacies to Boycott Lifesaving Drugs Used in Medication Abortion
- KFF | The Trump Administration’s Latest Expansion of the Mexico City Policy: A Funding Analysis
- Devdiscourse | Gavi: Trump Administration Demands Thimerosal Phase-Out in Global Vaccines
- Devex | New US Funding Rules Tie Aid to Abortion, Gender Ideology, DEI Bans
- Devex | Global Aid Is Leaving the Poorest Behind, New Report Warns
- Devex | The Great Reset: One Year Since the US Aid Freeze
- KFF | The Trump Administration’s Latest Expansion of the Mexico City Policy: A Funding Analysis
- Think Global Health | Expanding the Mexico City Policy Undermines Global Health
January 27, 2026
- Health Policy Watch | Geopolitical Risk Is Undermining Global Pandemic Preparedness
- Health Policy Watch | A Flag Recaptured: US Exit From WHO Highlights Anger Over COVID-19 Pandemic
- Think Global Health | What US Withdrawal from the World Health Organization Means for Africa
January 26, 2026
- US News | CDC Restores $5 Billion in Public Health Grants After 24-Hour Pause
- Axios | Doctors Offer Rival Childhood Vaccine Schedule to Trump Administration’s
- NBC | Dozens of CDC Databases Aren’t Being Updated — Most Related to Vaccines, Study Finds
- Devex | One Year After US Aid Freeze, HIV Care in Africa Is in Retreat
- Medpage | CDC Stopped Updating Key Vaccine, Infectious Disease Databases in 2025
January 24, 2026
- Jessica Knurick Substack | What Has Been Lost: One Year Into the Trump 2.0 Administration
- STAT | CDC Pauses, Then Unpauses Billions in Public Health Infrastructure Grants to States
January 23, 2026
- Devex | The Trump Administration Says It Won’t Pay What It Owes WHO
- Congressman Brad Sherman | One Year After Trump’s USAID Shutdown, Sherman & Meeks Lead All Foreign Affairs Dems to Investigate Aid-Related Deaths
- Health Policy Watch | America First Is Not America Absent
- Health Policy Watch | Stars & Stripes No Longer Flying at WHO – But US Can’t Really Leave Until Dues Are Paid, Agency Says
- Axios | Trump Admin to Expand Foreign Aid Abortion Ban to Gender Identity & DEI
January 22, 2026
- Reuters | US Set to Quit World Health Organization
- Devex | Can the US Formally Withdraw from WHO Without Paying Its Debts?
- Devex | Sen. Coons Expects Senate to Pass, Trump to Sign $50B Aid Budget Bill
- Devex | Gavi: US Loses Board Seat After Withholding Funding
- Devex | Congress May Pass a $50B Foreign Aid Bill. Will Trump Spend the Money?
- Reuters | US to Expand Anti-Abortion Aid Rule to Cover ‘Gender Ideology,’ Diversity
- Medpage Today | Guinea-Bissau Suspends Trump-Backed Hep B Vaccine Trial for Ethical Review
- STAT | Guinea-Bissau Says Plans for Controversial US-Funded Vaccine Study Need Further Review
- STAT | Top CDC Vaccine Adviser Questions Need for Polio Shot, Other Longstanding Recommendations
- STAT | US Makes Exit From the Who Complete
- STAT | Trump Administration Halts Use of Human Fetal Tissue in NIH-Funded Research
- Politico | A US Return to the World Health Organization Could Hinge on Whether Trump Approves of Its Next Leader
- Nature | Exclusive: Key NIH Review Panels Due to Lose All Members by the End of 2026
January 21, 2026
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- Axios | Congress pushes back against Trump’s NIH cuts
- Devex | Trump Dismantled USAID. Now These Aid Workers Are Running for Office
- STAT | As U.S. Prepares to Exit Who, It Is Stiffing the Agency on a Large Bill
- Think Global Health | The United States Leaves the WHO. Three Reforms Could Motivate Its Return
- Inside Medicine | One Year In: How the Trump Administration Has Eroded Public Health
January 20, 2026
- Devex | Global Health Council: Fighting for Billions: The Legal Battle to Keep Us Foreign Aid Alive
- Health Policy Watch | One Year Later: The Effect of US ‘Chainsaw’ on Global Health
- The Hill | Public Health Groups Sue Over CDC Vaccine Recommendations
- NPR | The Divorce Between the U.S. And Who Is Final This Week. Or Is It?
- STAT+ | House and Senate Appropriators Endorse NIH Budget Increase, Reject Trump’s Proposed Cuts
- STAT+ | What’s in Congress’ Sweeping Health Care Deal: PBM Reform, Telehealth, Science Funding
- Bhekisisa | One Year After Trump: The Day HIV Funding Changed Forever — and What Came Next
January 19, 2026
- Sci Dev | Africa Pushes Back on Us Health Deals Over Data, Power
- WEF | Gavi: Multilateral Paralysis Is Harming Global Health. Gavi’s ‘Minilateralism’ Can Get Us Back on Track
- Washington Post | Lawsuit Contests RFK Jr.’s New Vaccine Guidance for Children
January 17, 2026
- Washington Post | RFK Jr.-Backed Infant Vaccine Study in Africa to Proceed Despite Backlash, US Says
January 16, 2026
- Think Global Health | UCSF: New US Childhood Vaccine Schedule Creates Legal Peril
- The Guardian | Controversial US Study on Hepatitis B Vaccines in Africa Is Cancelled
- Health Policy Watch | Confusion Over ‘Cancellation’ of Controversial Hepatitis B Trial in Guinea-Bissau
- Devex | The Old Aid Model Is Dead. Now Comes the Fight Over What Replaces It
- Devex | $50B US Funding Bill A Welcome Surprise, But Will It See Light of Day?
- Aid on the Hill | Foreign Assistance Cuts in FY 2025: Deep Dive into Funding Accounts