27 UNIHTED / NIH Vigils Newsletter 3/22/26
Hi NIH Vigilers and 27 UNIHTED Community,
Happy spring!
Calls To Action
Fill out an anonymous survey for political scientists Emily Ritter (Vanderbilt University) and Ryan Welch (Univ. Of Tampa), who are trying to learn how the prospect of job losses affected how you worked in federal agencies last year. If you were employed by the federal government in 2025 (full time, career, probationary, contract, fellow, etc.) and left/lost your appointment (by severance, termination, RIF, fork in the road, early or on-time retirement, chose to leave, end of contract, etc.), your experience is informative.
Sign a letter written by former and current feds calling for the impeachment of White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Director Russell Vought
Reach out to your representatives about the issues that matter to you.
Leave comments about proposed policies on the Federal Register or NIH’s website
Fill out 27 UNIHTED’s survey about the February 2025 layoffs of probationary employees
Volunteer with us to help the NIH community
Upcoming Events
NIH Vigils 27 UNIHTED No Shadow Kings rally and food drive DHS employees and local communities– March 28 10:00 a.m. outside Medical Center Metro in front of the NIH Gateway Center. Sign up today!
We have invited elected officials, patient advocates, NIH grantees, and NIH community members to speak. Last time we had over 600 attendees, and we are hoping we can beat that number this time! Sign up ASAP!!
We will have a volunteer, food drive, merch, and Impeach Russell Vought table!
Weekly peer empowerment call every Thursday at 6:00 p.m.
Vigil “Auntie” News—Good News, Hope, and Impact
The Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) reauthorization passed the House (345-41). Your activism, media, and face-to-face congressional interactions by 27 UNIHTED helped move the Senate and the House! The bill now needs presidential signature. Almost there!
Judge rules against RFK Jr.’s restrictions to gender-affirming care. The ruling states RFK Jr. overstepped his authority when he asserted that youth gender-affirming care is unsafe and ineffective, as he failed to follow required federal administrative procedures, including public notice and comment. The case, raised by a coalition of 21 states and DC, also blocks the threat of penalties to hospitals and providers.
Courts restore VA’s AFGE Union contract. In a preliminary injunction, the judge ruled that the termination was “substantially motivated” by retaliation, not legitimate national security grounds as argued by the government.
Courts strike downchanges to childhood vaccine schedule. This affirms that the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices panel lacked expertise; “the Government has disregarded those methods and thereby undermined the integrity of its actions.”
The NIH Director sat before the House Appropriations Committee. The tone of the appearance was less contentious than prior ones, but we heard the same lies and half-truths–arguments ranging from how everything is fine, blaming scientists for vaccine hesitancy, and dismissing criticisms as “political noise” and “not reality.”
The NIH Director wants to illegally decertify the NIH Fellows Union, but there’s a twist! As reported previously, Dr. Bhattacharya stated that NIH Fellows are “not employees” and therefore their union should not have been recognized and certified. This week, we share a twist to this story: the UAW/NIH bargaining teams who led to this historical contract were celebrated with an NIH Director’s Award "for extraordinary leadership, expertise, and cross-organizational collaboration during complex labor negotiations of the first collective bargaining agreement to span the NIH and impact 5,000 fellows."
NIH held an inaugural “Scientific Freedom” lecture series. Matt Ridley, Ph.D. was the first invited guest of the new NIH Director’s seminar. This presentation was from one of the most prominent and persistent advocates of the lab-leak hypothesis as the origin of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Scientific Freedom” lecture counterprogramming held with Freedom For Science. Organized by 27 UNIHTED, Stand Up For Science, and Save America Movement, the counterprogramming event included virologists and biodefense experts Angela Rasmussen, Kristian Andersen, and Gigi Gronvall, and commentary by our own Anna Culbertson. They provided pre-game comments, live fact checking and a post-seminar panel discussion. The event was recorded and is available to watch.
Wellness Weekly
Our somewhat serious community recommendations for self care are:
Play a video game
Run some errands and get yourself a little treat
Drink Kool Aid
Check out our new merch shop!
As we are migrating our store into our new Squarespace storefront, we have a temporary way of purchasing our merchandise through our website! We are in the process of migrating all items, but in the meantime check out our new 27 UNIHTED shirts and bags and NIH Vigil water bottles.
In solidarity,
27 UNIHTED and NIH Vigils