In response to the U.S. government shutdown surpassing 32 days, President of the American Association of Immunologists, Dr. Uli von Andrian, issued the following statement:
The American Association of Immunologists (AAI) calls on Congress to immediately reach a bipartisan agreement to end the ongoing government shutdown, which is causing serious harm to the nation’s biomedical research enterprise and jeopardizing scientific and public health progress.
Every day that the shutdown continues, the nation’s investment in science and health is further eroded. The cost of inaction will be measured not only in lost research and disrupted careers, but also in unnecessary suffering of patients due to delayed progress toward treatments and cures that millions of people depend on.
As time goes on, the impact on federal scientific agencies, including the National Institutes of Health (NIH), Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and National Science Foundation (NSF), is becoming increasingly severe. Federal scientists and staff are unable to conduct or support critical research, review grant applications, maintain research infrastructure, or collaborate with partners in academia and industry. These disruptions stall innovation, threaten the continuity of long-term projects, and undermine the stability of the U.S. scientific ecosystem.
The consequences of these interruptions extend far beyond government facilities. University and hospital researchers who depend on federal funding face cascading effects that slow discovery, impede training programs, and threaten the progress of promising therapies.
AAI urges Congress and the Administration to act swiftly to restore operations and provide stable, sustained funding for federal research agencies. A solution must be reached immediately to ensure that scientific discovery and public health protection can continue without further interruption.
