Research Monkeys May Be Euthanized After RFK Jr. Suspends Infectious-Disease Studies ‘Ferociously Fast’: Report

In a sweeping policy shift, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has ordered the immediate shutdown of all primate research at its facilities, including infectious disease studies that rely on hundreds of macaque monkeys.

As reported by Science on Friday, Nov. 21, the agency is phasing out research involving nonhuman primates, which have been central to infectious disease work, including HIV prevention. The decision affects roughly 200 rhesus and pig-tailed macaques housed at the CDC’s Atlanta laboratories.

“It’s unprecedented,” said Sally Thompson-Iritani, the assistant vice provost overseeing the University of Washington’s animal care program. The report notes that the animals will either be transferred to nearby sanctuaries or euthanized. “It’s a huge loss for the HIV field,” added Deborah Fuller, Ph.D., director of the Washington National Primate Research Center and an HIV researcher.

The directive ending primate research was communicated to U.S. researchers by Sam Beyda, a former employee of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) who was recently appointed as the CDC’s deputy chief of staff. According to Science, an unnamed official said Beyda was relaying the position of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has made scaling back animal research a central part of his Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) initiative. The official described the change to infectious disease research as coming “ferociously fast.”

In a statement from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the agency said, “The CDC is committed to the highest standards of ethical and humane care and to minimizing the use of laboratory animals in accordance with the principles of animal welfare in scientific research known as ‘replacement, reduction, and refinement.’”

The statement continued, “As a part of long-standing agency practice and in alignment with the administration’s priorities, CDC regularly evaluates its research project portfolio, including non-human primate studies, and strives to use non-animal research methods whenever feasible, while ensuring the integrity of research that protects public health and safety.”

The spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the expected transition plan for the research animals.

The MAHA Commission, chaired by Kennedy, released a strategy in September outlining more than 120 initiatives intended to reverse what it describes as “failed policies” driving “America’s childhood chronic-disease epidemic.” A key element of that strategy is shifting away from animal-based science toward human-based technologies.

Thompson-Iritani estimated that, including those housed at the CDC, the National Institutes of Health currently has about 7,000 monkeys that will now need to be euthanized or relocated.

“We have a responsibility to take care of these animals,” she told Science. “That should be included in any road map.”

The move has sparked both celebration and concern. Animal-welfare advocates have hailed the decision as a major step toward ending experiments they view as ethically untenable and scientifically outdated. At the same time, many infectious-disease researchers warn that the abrupt change could jeopardize critical work.

JoAnne Flynn, a leading tuberculosis researcher, told Scientific American that ending these primate studies risks halting essential research that “just cannot be replaced” easily because, as she put it, “things really need to be tested in a system that’s very similar to humans.”