Just before the weekend, U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a series of initiatives to combat Lyme disease and other tick-borne conditions, including alpha-gal syndrome.
The Island is no stranger to tick-borne conditions, and in recent months, there’s been both local and state focus on the issue. Now, the problem’s reached the national stage, and the federal department reaffirmed a goal to reduce Lyme disease cases by 25 percent by 2035 when compared to 2022 levels. They also secured funds for researchers at the National Institutes of Health on alpha-gal syndrome, an allergy to mammalian products like red meat and dairy triggered by a lone star tick bite.
At a press conference in New Hampshire on Friday, Kennedy announced that HHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) plan to pilot a multi-million-dollar program on tick control to develop and deploy strategies to target ticks that feed on wildlife before they can spread diseases, a HHS press release stated.
The release said that the effort starts with researchers at the New England Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases in Amherst, Mass. and includes collaboration with the Indian Health Service and the Wampanoag Tribe in Massachusetts. Members of the Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) were not immediately available for comment.
“The Island has been calling for action and we are now seeing mobilization at the community, state, and federal level,” Virginia Barbatti, executive director of the nonprofit Tick Free MV, said in a statement to The Times. “Having some of the highest levels of government and some of the best researchers in the country working towards possible breakthroughs in tick control is a very positive development.”
The federal department also plans to dedicate up to $2.5 million in “innovation challenges,” the release stated, as well as in funds for NIH researchers, and a public-private collaboration to connect patients to experienced providers.
The CDC estimates that nearly 500,000 people in the U.S. suffer from alpha-gal, “though emerging evidence suggests the true number may be significantly higher,” the HHS release said. The Island’s number is just as unclear, but local data shows a spike in cases. In 2020, the hospital’s emergency department performed nine tests for alpha-gal, which resulted in two positive cases. In 2025, tests increased to 1,632, and there were 724 positive results.
The state Department of Public Health recently announced in March that alpha-gal became a reportable condition to the state as of April 1, which local officials said allows more information about the allergy to be systematically collected, such as the severity of symptoms.
Claire Seguin, president and COO for Martha’s Vineyard Hospital, and Jacob Lemieux, an infectious diseases physician at Mass General Brigham, recently wrote an essay for The Times that said the hospital’s allergist has already seen more than 400 patients with alpha-gal this year.
The release said, “NIH has preliminarily identified promising products that may help protect individuals from developing Alpha-gal syndrome following a tick bite.”
“Millions of Americans battling Lyme disease and other tick-borne illnesses have spent years searching for answers, treatment, and support,” Kennedy said in the release. “Today, the Trump administration is launching one of the most ambitious federal efforts ever to combat Lyme disease by accelerating research, expanding innovation, and improving care for patients and families. We are going after this disease at its source, driving faster diagnostics and new prevention strategies, and delivering the urgency and action Americans deserve.” the urgency and action Americans deserve.”