‘No kings, just vaccines!’: demonstrators gather at NIH headquarters to protest against cuts to medical research | Protest (US)
While tens of thousands of people gathered from around the United States and the world for the No Kings protests, nearly a thousand people gathered outside the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, on Saturday morning to protest cuts in medical research and the Trump administration’s health policies.
The rally follows a tumultuous year for the research agency, with devastating cuts to multi-year funding and a complete end to grants specifically for research related to gender and race. The White House is currently preparing to cut NIH’s budget by 20%. reporting By Roll Call on Friday, nearly a year after mass layoffs at healthcare facilities.
A year ago, Bill Bien woke up sick with a sore throat and shortness of breath. He was soon diagnosed with a rare form of lymphoma.
“It was like trying to climb a mountain and I couldn’t breathe,” he told the crowd. “But I made it, and so will you.”
He said the diagnosis he received ten years ago would have been a “death sentence.” He said this was before major advances had been made in research into treating lymphoma, after 25 years of research at places like the National Cancer Institute. “You are creating fundamental changes and now lymphomas are being treated.”
After a year of treatment and recovery, including sometimes life-threatening infections, Bien’s cancer is now gone. He said NIH researchers are “national treasures.” “You should be valued, not belittled.” He called on the government to continue funding long-term science carried out by interdisciplinary teams.
“You have to be determined,” Bien said. “This means a lot to a lot of people you’ll never meet. It’s going to save their lives.”
The speakers’ words were emphasized by the honking of car horns along the road. The cold wind blew the cherry blossom petals away like snowflakes.
“There is no king, only vaccines!” Protesters shouted as speakers denounced crackdowns on immigration, restrictions on transgender health care, the war in Iran and the blockade in Cuba, and the radically reshaped public health landscape. The event was also a food drive to support unpaid workers at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and other workers affected by the partial closure.
“Speaking into a microphone is new to me,” said Nina Friedman, a doctoral candidate at the University of Maryland whose research is supported by the NIH. “But I realized that if we don’t take the microphone, RFK Jr and Jay Bhattacharya will come on the air.”
US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr and NIH chief Bhattacharya oversaw the gutting of one of the world’s leading research institutions.
In August 2024, Michael Green was excited to receive an early career grant from the NIH for his work on discrimination in healthcare. But in 2025, that research was discontinued in sweeping cuts that took effect last year as part of a purge of research on diversity, equity and inclusion that are core parts of public health research.
“I study trust for a living… Trust is not found by joining a podcast,” Green said, referring to Bhattacharya’s frequent appearances on right-wing podcasts. conferences. “What I see is a person trying to rule science like a king, deciding what research is acceptable based on political ideology rather than scientific merit.” he said.
Jeanne Marrazzo, former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and current CEO of the Infectious Diseases Society of America, said conducting public health research requires “a very, very visible lifelong commitment to advocating for equity, diversity, and inclusion.”
Leaders of NIH institutes like Marrazzo resisted leadership-imposed cuts. “We never explicitly said why we were placed on administrative duty almost exactly a year ago,” Marrazzo said. “I was never explicitly told why I was fired after six months. But it’s hard to imagine that our resistance didn’t play a role.”
But he said he was still struggling to support vital research in the United States. “I’m ready for this. I have everything,” he said. He referred to the rally’s name, No (Shadow) Kings, and said: “It may be obscured or redirected by political will or ill will… but in the end the light reaches where it needs to go.”
Anna Culbertson, co-founder of 27 UNIHTED, a nonprofit organization staffed by former NIH employees, led the crowd in the oath of office that all government employees take: “I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic,” she said, and the crowd chanted the last part after her.
