Elon Musk, during his first appearance in the cabinet meeting of the Trump administration, held on 26 February 2025, and representing the controversial U.S. Department of Government Efficiency, admitted that they accidentally halted all funding related to Ebola prevention efforts while gutting the budget of the U.S. Agency for International Development or USAID. He later said that they reversed course and emphasized that there was no interruption in the efforts. Several experts familiar with the global Ebola prevention efforts shared what exactly happened. Evidence also indicated there were actual interruptions.
Elon Musk Admitted that DOGE “Accidentally” Cut Ebola Prevention Efforts While an Outbreak Raged in Uganda. Several Experts Explain What Exactly Happened and Its Implications
Context
The U.S. Department of Government Efficiency or DOGE and Musk have been in the spotlight since it was established on 20 January 2025. It has been receiving extreme criticism for gutting federal funding, firing hundreds of federal government workers, receding federal government contracts, and disrupting the operations and structures of several federal agencies. Musk explained that the temporary organization has a goal of cutting USD 1 trillion from the federal budget.
Nevertheless, during his first attendance at the cabinet meeting of the Trump administration, he was given the spotlight to update what has been happening at DOGE. He took the opportunity to specifically explain that the organization will not be perfect and that it will make mistakes. He also underscored that they are prepared to respond to these mistakes. Hence, in elaborating on what he meant, he mentioned that DOGE mistakenly cut funding related to Ebola prevention efforts.
Musk explained that DOGE staffers “accidentally canceled” Ebola prevention while implementing funding cuts to USAID. He clarified that there was no interruption in efforts related to Ebola prevention because they were able to quickly reverse course after recognizing the mistake. Musk also acknowledged that initiatives aimed at preventing an outbreak of the disease across the world is an important pursuit but also argued that DOGE needs to move quickly to meet its targets.
An Ebola outbreak caused by a particular species under the Sudan ebolaviruses taxon was declared on 29 January 2025 in Uganda by its Ministry of Health. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a travel notice earlier in February. The USAID has been spearheading several Ebola prevention efforts across the world. The supposed accidental but temporary halting of relevant funding to these efforts impacted the ongoing Ebola outbreak in Uganda.
Impact
Sharing his sentiments on the social media platform X, Craig Spencer, a medical doctor, public health expert, and university professor, explained in a series of posts that due to how the Trump administration has crippled relevant programs, the U.S. failed to send one of its Ebola experts to Uganda, set up border screening and other measures on the ground, and coordinate with the World Health Organization. Uganda supposedly called The White House but never got a response.
A report by Dan Diamond and John Hudson of the Washington Post revealed that the Ebola prevention efforts of the U.S. government were not restored. Current and former USAID officials explained that these initiatives were largely halted since DOGE gutted the agency. There were no teams and experts available to respond to an outbreak because they were dismantled. Even partner organizations were not promptly paid and the own efforts of USAID have been curtailed.
Jeremy Konyndyk, a humanitarian worker who led the USAID response to the 2014-2015 Ebola outbreak in West Africa, explained on a series of X posts that the U.S. would normally initiate rapid resource deployment to partners and host governments, send out an inter-agency team of experts to the field, and conduct real-time operational cooperation and information sharing with WHO. These responses are now nonexistent since the second-term Trump administration.
Others would have argued that handling outbreaks in other parts of the world should not be the responsibility of the U.S. government. However, as explained in several studies, including papers from Tappero et al. and C. H. Cassell et al., the U.S. is significantly exposed to the global public health affairs and its involvement is critical in ensuring that contagious diseases are contained to prevent them from crossing the U.S. borders and impacting its domestic economic activities.
FURTHER READINGS AND REFERENCES
- Cassell, C. H., Bambery, Z., Roy, K., Meltzer, M. I., Ahmed, Z., Payne, R. L., and Bunnell, R. E. 2017. “Relevance of Global Health Security to the US Export Economy.” In Health Security. 15(6): 563–568. Mary Ann Liebert Inc. DOI: 1089/hs.2017.0051
- Diamond, D. and Hudson, J. 27 February 2025. “Musk Says DOGE ‘Restored’ Ebola Prevention Effort. Officials Say That’s Not True.” The Washington Post. Available online
- Konyndyk, J. 27 February 2025. “So—I’ve Actually Led Ebola Outbreak Response at USAID.” X. Available online
- Spencer, C. 27 February 2025. “Make a Huge Mistake.” X. Available online
- Tappero, J. W., Cassell, C. H., Bunnell, R. E., Angulo, F. J., Craig, A., Pesik, N., Dahl, B. A., Ijaz, K., Jafari, H., and Martin, R. 2017. “US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Its Partners’ Contributions to Global Health Security.” In Emerging Infectious Diseases. 23(13). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. DOI: 3201/eid2313.170946