HIV+Hep in the News

“We cannot end HIV without a fully functioning and sufficiently funded HIV prevention program. If the administration has new ideas on how to conduct HIV prevention, including testing, surveillance, education, and PrEP outreach, we are more than willing to discuss them,” stated Carl Schmid, a gay man who is executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute. “With new long-acting PrEP drugs on the horizon, now is not the time to totally disrupt the system but a time to redouble our efforts to prevent HIV.”

Carl Schmid, executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute said in a statement that both President Donald Trump and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. have committed to combating HIV. “President Trump during his first term initiated the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative, an historic effort to end HIV in the US by 2030,” Schmid said. “HHS Secretary Kennedy has stated on the record as part of his confirmation process that he ‘look[s] forward to continuing the good work that President Trump did in his pursuit to eradicate HIV/AIDS’ and that ‘HHS will support all appropriate prevention programs, including those which include pre-exposure prophylaxis.’

Carl Schmid, the executive director of the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute in Washington, told Reuters he had been told by a government agency source that the division might be shut down and that a decision would be made this week on the funding of HIV prevention at the CDC. Schmid, who co-chaired the Presidential Advisory Council of HIV/AIDS during President Donald Trump’s first term, said he understood all of the division’s funding is “up in the air”.

“This is the basic function of the CDC. Where does that money go? To the states — to do testing, to do surveillance, to do outreach efforts. Who’s going to do that?” asked Carl Schmid, director at the HIV+Hepatitis Policy Institute who learned of the discussions from an official within the administration.