Name: U.S. not recognizing World AIDS Day this year
Uploaded: 2025-12-02T01:49:55.322Z
Duration: 4 min 14 s
Description: Monday is World AIDS Day. It has been recognized globally since 1988, but this year, the U.S. government is not commemorating it for the first time.

Monday is World AIDS Day. It has been recognized globally since 1988, but this year, the U.S. government is not commemorating it for the first time.

Washington

The U.S. government did not officially recognize World AIDS Day this year, marking the first time since the event's inception in 1988 that it has not been commemorated at the federal level. The State Department instructed employees not to publicly promote the day, a move that experts say aligns with recent attacks on HIV programs and funding cuts.

Medical professionals and advocates highlighted the measurable consequences of these actions, including freezes on foreign aid such as PEPFAR and domestic cuts to HIV-related programs. These changes have led to significant increases in HIV-related deaths and have left affected communities feeling erased and stigmatized. The segment also addressed recent developments regarding COVID vaccine approval standards, emphasizing the need to rely on scientific guidance.

U.S. not recognizing World AIDS Day this year

Today is World AIDS Day. It's been recognized globally since 1988, but this year the U.S. government is not commemorating it for the first time. CBS News has learned the State Department even instructed its employees not to publicly promote World AIDS Day. CBS News medical contributor, Dr. Selene Gowner, spoke to Dr. Dimitri Daskalakis, an infectious disease specialist, about what kind of message this sends to the rest of the world. It's internally consistent, Selene. So I think seeing so much of the attack happening on HIV programs that have demonstrated a high level of effectiveness in saving lives, it is internally consistent that the day commemorating all of that work is also erased, as it appears there are efforts to erase those programs as well as the communities that they support. So the Trump administration may decide not to commemorate World AIDS Day, but that doesn't mean that we don't have to commemorate World AIDS Day. And so it becomes even more important that the voices of organizations and the voices of individuals who are affected with HIV really need to be louder. And Dr. Selene Gowner joins us now. She's also editor-at-large for Public Health at KFF Health News. So doctor, what are some of the real world consequences of this? Well, the impacts are immediate and they are measurable. So we've seen a freeze on foreign aid funding, including PEPFAR, which is the President's Emergency Program for AIDS Relief. This was started by President George W. Bush over 20 years ago now. That program, those halts have led to 126,000 or more adult deaths and some 13,000 pediatric or child deaths from HIV-related conditions. You also have the cuts here at home. So NIH funding, including HIV vaccines, CDC funding, and all of that money that goes down to state and local health departments. Ryan White, remember the little boy who had hemophilia? The Ryan White program is named after him. This is something that funds treatment for many people with HIV in this country. So we're seeing cuts across the board to HIV. How is the community responding? I think people are shocked and dismayed. It feels like they are being erased. It's a revisiting of the stigma that we saw. I was gonna say, does it feel like we're going backwards? Yeah, it feels like the 1980s again in many ways of not recognizing the people who are affected and what can be done about it. What else did the doctor tell you, Daskalakis? So he said that for many people, this doesn't feel like reprioritization. That's what we're hearing is we're seeing the administration reprioritize. It feels again like erasure. And that's exactly what Dr. Daskalakis said to me. Activists that I've worked with for decades are shattered by the fact that the administration has decided that they're just not going to pay attention to this community in a context where we're seeing communities being erased or ignored. This is just more grist for the mill. Seems very clear that there is a desire to forget that HIV is actually a problem. Yeah, very poignant there. And I also wanna ask you about the FDA's vaccine chief talking about the agency plans to tighten approval standards for COVID vaccines. What's going on here? So he sends an email to all of the FDA staff on Friday. I was forwarded a copy of that. Many of us were analyzing this over the weekend and speaking to one another about it. And what he's saying is that he's claiming 10 children have died from COVID vaccines, but there is no proof of a causal relationship. The kinds of data you would want are medical records. You'd wanna see autopsy reports and the like. There's no data to back this. And so I think unfortunately what we're seeing is FDA politics playing out in public. And for now, if you're somebody who is six months old and up, you are eligible for a COVID vaccine. Children should be getting vaccinated. That should be their first encounter with the virus, the vaccine, not the virus itself. And listen to the medical societies and professional organizations during this period of confusion. They really are the ones who are looking out for you and following the science. Okay, Dr. Gounder, thank you.

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