"This really is talking about the population that is most in need of PrEP, especially those who are already on it, having to stop taking a medication that could virtually prevent most HIV infection," Jennifer Kates, senior vice president and director of the Global Health & HIV Policy Program at the nonpartisan research organization KFF, told HuffPost after seeing the memo.
"The fact we have all these people with a disease that is highly transmissible and cannot be cured, that we can actually prevent all that transmission by successful treatment, is such a testimony to the success of these programs," Judd Walson, an infectious disease physician who is chairman of the global health department at Johns Hopkins University, told HuffPost. "The thought that we would now withdraw access to this treatment so abruptly, without any planning for an alternative scenario, is so concerning."