A week of confusion at the National Institutes of Health disrupted critical research due to a communication pause under the Trump administration.
A new memo now allows partial resumption of purchasing, easing concerns for researchers struggling to maintain clinical trials and studies.
For researchers at the National Institutes of Health, or NIH, it was a week of chaos and uncertainty. The Trump administration imposed a communication pause that halted purchasing vital supplies for the ongoing studies and put experiments and clinical trials in jeopardy.
The NIH scientists claimed they could not order test tubes, animal feed, and drug essentials to keep running the trials at the Clinical Trial Center.
Some studies stood on the edge of collapse as researchers feared that if they used up the vital materials, years of work could be lost.
“It felt more like a government shutdown,” said one researcher with over two decades of experience at the NIH. Many described the week as one of the hardest of their careers, filled with confusion, frustration, and fears for their jobs.
Relief came Monday with a new memo clarifying that purchasing from some current vendors could proceed. For many at the NIH, the update was a lifeline. “This will make things a little more sane,” one employee remarked.
The pause on external communication meant to ensure government messaging aligned with administration directives had unintended consequences, including risks to pharmaceutical supplies, liquid nitrogen for samples, and contracts for critical staff.
The incident was described by experts as typical of inadequate planning. Dr. Peter Lurie, head of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, stated, “It’s difficult to tell if this is incompetence or something more deliberate.”
Researchers say the disruption demonstrated how brittle the backing for science can be, even though some clarity has been offered.
