Even after prolonged chaos, Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency didn’t end up saving taxpayers much money. It did, however, manage to devastate global health infrastructure on its way out.
For evidence, look no further than Bangladesh, currently in the grips of one of the worst measles outbreaks in recent memory. According to the Guardian, over 100 children have died as a result of gaps in vaccination coverage, with more than 900 confirmed measles cases reported since the viral flare-up began in March.
Two thirds of those impacted are over nine months old, the outlet reported, the age at which infants typically become eligible for measles inoculation. The United Nations has helped the Bangladeshi government kickstart an emergency vaccination drive, but for many families, the damage has already been done.
At the heart of the public health failure lies a shortage of vaccine stockpiles. That shortage traces back, at least in part, to the wave of DOGE-driven spending cuts to the US Agency for International Development (US AID) that forced Bangladesh’s then-interim government to shutter healthcare programs across the board, from tuberculosis screenings to public maternity clinics.
“I am particularly worried about the immunisation programme,” health advisor to the interim government Nurjahan Begum told France24 at the time of the cuts. “If there is a disruption, the success we have achieved in immunisation will be jeopardised.”
In its reporting, France24 noted that US AID had been a primary funder of vaccine access for 2.3 million kids throughout Bangladesh — not just for measles, but other diseases like diphtheria, polio, and tetanus.
As recently as 2024, the US was distributing $371 million in support to Bangladesh, tens of millions of which were earmarked for public health assistance. By 2025 that figure had fallen to $288 million; this year, it will come out to just $24 million. (That’s just for distribution — when it comes to funding obligations, US AID will actually claw back $1.2 million in already-promised cash from the beleaguered nation.)
Unfortunately, Bangladesh is not an outlier. According to the Center for Strategic and International Studies, 85 percent of US AID distribution has been cut, a situation likely to result in hundreds of thousands of avoidable deaths across some of the poorest countries in the world. DOGE may be gone, but the fallout from its cuts will be felt for years to come.
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