USAID Workers Slam Elon Musk’s DOGE Blockade On ‘Lifesaving’ Drugs: ‘300 Babies That Wouldn’t Have Had HIV, Now Do’
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
USAID workers are warning that Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) is throwing foreign aid into chaos and the agency’s vital HIV/AIDS work is still being blocked — despite the Trump administration stating “lifesaving” programs would be exempt from the freeze.
President Donald Trump’s executive order froze foreign aid, gutting USAID — an agency representing less than 1 percent of the federal budget but playing a critical role in global health efforts. Though the administration announced a humanitarian waiver for the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), sources told Wired that the lifesaving initiative remains largely stalled due to internal dysfunction and a bureaucratic stranglehold imposed by DOGE operatives.
Musk’s DOGE team shuttered USAID headquarters, employees were locked out of email accounts and placed on administrative leave, and workers worldwide were left scrambling for resources.
Wired reported that the fallout is being felt in countries reliant on USAID’s HIV/AIDS programs. In Zambia, Nigeria, Haiti, and Mozambique, crucial medical supplies—including antiretroviral drugs and pre-exposure prophylaxis—are stranded in limbo because the personnel responsible for their distribution have been benched.
“When a baby is born, you do an early infant diagnostic test, and if it comes back positive, you can blitz them with retrovirals,” said a USAID worker. “But you can’t do that if you don’t have retrovirals.”
“It’s an absolute disaster. At a minimum, 300 babies that wouldn’t have had HIV, now do,” another added.
“It’s been absolutely hellish,” said one staffer whose access was cut off on Monday morning.
“Your money is being unfrozen, but you can’t contact the people who actually froze it,” a senior HIV/AIDS official explained to the outlet. “There’s a bigger communication blockage that is frustrating even the efforts put in place to free up the lifesaving work.”
“We cannot touch the medication,” they said. “Everything is on hold.”
While calls to USAID have gone unanswered for days now, Musk took to X to celebrate how his team had spent the weekend feeding USAID into the wood chipper.”
On Monday night, USAID staffers were informed via email that their offices would remain closed: “We will continue to provide further updates as they become available… Thank you for your cooperation.”
