CDC to end monkey research for HIV prevention: report

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has been ordered to end its monkey research for HIV prevention, according to a report.

According to unnamed sources, a former DOGE employee, Sam Beyda, who was recently named CDC’s deputy chief of staff, issued the order, Science reported Friday.

Beyda told the CDC a few weeks ago to wind down its primate research program, according to an unnamed government official. He also said he was speaking on behalf of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The monkeys have been used to research HIV, hepatitis and other infectious diseases. HHS's goal is to approve a plan to shut down the research by the end of the year, according to the unnamed official. “There is no choice but to end the program,” the person said.

A CDC spokesperson told Science that the agency "regularly evaluates its research project portfolio including non-human primate studies and strives to use non-animal research methods whenever feasible.”

The White Coat Waste Project watchdog president and founder Anthony Bellotti said on Friday, “We couldn’t be prouder to have worked with the Trump Administration to cut CDC’s government monkey business. Secretary Kennedy has now delivered on his promise to work with White Coat Waste by completely shutting down the CDC’s primate labs, where hundreds of victims were infected with smallpox, Ebola, hepatitis, and HIV-like viruses at taxpayer expense.