Federal funding and science doubled life expectancy. We can’t do more with less. 

Today’s life expectancy is due in no small measure to sustained U.S. governmental support for critical vaccine research and humanitarian aid. These efforts have halted the spread of serious disease and saved millions of lives here at home and around the world.  

For decades, the U.S. government provided critical federal funding to the medical and public health community. This commitment is now waning, putting the health of the American people at risk and jeopardizing our ability to pioneer future medical breakthroughs.  

One of the most influential immunologists of all time is an American who few people have ever heard about. Dr. Maurice Hilleman, raised on a farm just outside Miles City, Montana, developed 40 vaccines throughout his lifetime. Eight of them became commonly administered to children for protection against serious communicable diseases, including measles, mumps, hepatitis A, hepatitis B, chickenpox, meningitis, pneumonia and the flu.  

His discoveries weren’t accidents. They were based on years of hard work and painstaking research, backed by the support and encouragement of an American government that understood the significance and importance of his work.  

U.S. support for public health has extended far beyond government-funded research. For years, the U.S. spent billions fighting tuberculosis which saved nearly 80 million lives. Another initiative, the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), which supported HIV prevention, care and treatment for over two decades, has saved an estimated 26 million lives.   

The impact of this work has been monumental. The average global life expectancy has doubled since 1900.........

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