USAID: Musk admits mistake in cancelling Ebola funding

The decision has ignited debate, with some supporting Musk’s cost-cutting measures while others warn of the potential risks associated with discontinuing crucial public health initiatives.

While not officially appointed to a Cabinet position nor confirmed by the Senate, influential adviser Elon Musk made an appearance at President Donald Trump’s second-term Cabinet meeting, dressed in his now-familiar “Tech Support” uniform, representing the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

The White House had previously asserted—unconvincingly—that DOGE was not under Musk’s direct control.

Addressing Cabinet members, Musk acknowledged potential missteps in DOGE’s operations: “We won’t be perfect. But when we make a mistake, we’ll fix it very quickly. So, for example, with USAID, one of the things we accidentally cancelled, very briefly, was Ebola prevention,” he said, laughing slightly. “I think we all want Ebola prevention. So we restored the Ebola prevention immediately.”

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was among the first federal agencies to suffer drastic cutbacks under DOGE’s oversight, with thousands of employees placed on leave.

Musk, Trump, and their allies have actively spread misinformation about USAID’s spending on humanitarian aid abroad.

These cuts have disrupted critical health programmes, including clinics providing life-saving medical care and disease prevention measures against tuberculosis and malaria.

Despite Musk’s assurance that the pause on Ebola prevention was brief and had been rectified, reports suggest otherwise. The Washington Post revealed that current and former USAID officials confirmed the agency’s Ebola containment efforts remain largely halted.

Democratic Representative Don Beyer of Virginia condemned Musk’s casual approach to the situation: “An average person who did something as incompetent as ‘accidentally cancelling Ebola prevention’ wouldn’t be applauded, they’d be fired,” he posted on X, the social media platform owned by Musk.

“Musk is failing up in this administration because he didn’t earn his job, he bought it. It’s corrupt, and risks Americans’ health and safety.” he added.

Dr Craig Spencer, an emergency medicine physician and global public health expert who survived Ebola himself, outlined the consequences of this blunder.

He noted that Uganda reported an Ebola outbreak on 29 January 2025, but for the first time, the U.S. did not send one of its Ebola experts to assist. “Normally, the U.S. would’ve very quickly sent one of our Ebola experts to help the response. But this time, we didn’t. Because we couldn’t. Because this administration wouldn’t let them go right when this outbreak was declared,” he wrote on X.

Spencer added that officials in Uganda attempted to contact the White House for days but received no response.

Meanwhile, the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), responsible for Ebola prevention in the U.S., is losing hundreds of frontline experts due to DOGE’s interference.

Jeremy Konyndyk, a former USAID official who led COVID-19 and disaster response efforts under Presidents Joe Biden and Barack Obama, criticised Musk for dismantling the nation’s epidemic response infrastructure.

Writing on Bluesky, he dismissed Musk’s claim that Ebola protections had been reinstated as “bunk.”

“They have laid off most of the experts, they’re bankrupting most of the partner organisations, have withdrawn from [the World Health Organization], and muzzled CDC,” Konyndyk stated.

He further argued that Musk’s vendetta against USAID and the federal workforce had “shredded all of the systems that the [U.S. government] has built up to protect the U.S. homeland against global outbreak risks.”