President Donald Trump's administration has canceled a number of key vaccine policy meetings as health and science agencies prepare for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to take over as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
A number of the National Institutes of Health's study sections, during which fellowship and grant applications are reviewed, were canceled, potentially delaying grant distribution, Stat News reported.
Additionally, the Presidential Advisory Council for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria meeting, scheduled for Jan. 28-29, and a National Vaccine Advisory Committee meeting, scheduled for Feb. 20-21, were also canceled.
"Peer review via study sections is required by law in order for the NIH to disburse most of the $40 billion annual extramural budget," Norman E. Sharpless, a former director of the NIH's National Cancer Institute, told Stat News.
"If study sections and advisory council meetings are postponed for more than even a brief period, this will likely lead to interruptions in grant funding, which is bad for U.S. biomedical research."
An NIH spokesperson explained the cancellations are part of "a short pause to allow the new team to set up a process for review and prioritization." Scholars, however, fear the delays and their ambiguous conclusion could have detrimental domino effects on their research.
"If study sections don't meet on time, then that could delay grants being distributed, which affects the ability of labs to pay their students and postdocs and staff," Rebecca Pompano, a chemist and biomedical engineer at the University of Virginia, told Stat News. "In some cases, if there was a gap in funding, it could result in someone either not being hired at all or having to be laid off."
Pompano's fears are compounded by RFK Jr.'s plans to overhaul the NIH. In the past, he has attacked the NIH for not studying the role of vaccines in autism and promised to fire "entire department" at the Food and Drug Administration, AP News reported.
Originally published on Latin Times
