The international vaccine agency, Gavi, has firmly dismissed Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s allegations that it disregards scientific data concerning vaccine safety. Kennedy’s comments come in the wake of a Gavi pledging summit held in Brussels, where he cautioned that the U.S. would cease all contributions unless the agency modifies its practices.
During the summit, Kennedy acknowledged Gavi’s mission to make healthcare accessible. However, he shifted to assert that the organization ‘ignores the science’ on vaccine safety and called for Gavi to ‘re-earn the public trust’. This has raised alarms among advocates of global vaccination efforts, who are now more vigilant following his remarks.
Since its establishment in 2000, Gavi claims to have vaccinated 1.1 billion children against various diseases, including polio, malaria, mpox, and measles, with estimates suggesting it has saved 20 million lives. Public health experts regard Gavi as pivotal in delivering vaccinations to low-resource countries by providing funding for vaccine purchases and supporting responses to disease outbreaks.
The U.S. has been a significant donor to Gavi, contributing approximately 13% of its budget. Under the Biden administration, a $2.53 billion pledge was made in September 2022, to be allocated until 2030. Of this promised amount, $880 million has already been distributed.
In response to Kennedy’s criticisms, Gavi emphasized that the safety and health of children is its highest priority, rejecting any claims that it does not adhere to scientific data regarding vaccines. The agency stated that any decisions related to its vaccine portfolio are made following the recommendations of the WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE). This group comprises independent experts who scrutinize all available data through a rigorous and transparent process, ensuring that Gavi’s investments align with the best scientific evidence and public health priorities.
The implications of the potential funding cuts are troubling, as this is not the first instance of a U.S. administration proposing reductions in support for Gavi. Earlier this year, President Donald Trump’s administration eliminated over a billion dollars in funding as part of a foreign assistance overhaul.
Dr. William Moss, an epidemiologist and pediatrician at Johns Hopkins University, expressed concern that Kennedy’s stance reflects a long-standing view rooted in misinformation about vaccines. He addressed the need for safe and effective vaccines but lamented that imposing barriers to funding based on misguided beliefs about vaccine safety is detrimental.
Moss stated, ‘To withdraw funding based on misguided concerns about vaccine safety is very tragic, and I don’t think Kennedy is speaking for most Americans with this type of decision.’ Without U.S. financial support, he believes Gavi would still manage to survive, thanks to its backing from other donors like the United Kingdom and the Gates Foundation. However, he warned that reduced funding would likely necessitate scaling back Gavi’s operations.
Indeed, during the replenishment conference that coincided with Kennedy’s speech, the Gates Foundation announced a new $1.6 billion pledge and urged increased contributions from other donors, cautioning that without renewed support, children could be left vulnerable to vaccine-preventable diseases.
The consequences of the U.S. halting funding would not be confined to lower-income countries, according to Moss. He indicated that reduced capacity to provide measles vaccinations abroad could ultimately affect Americans directly.
Moss added, ‘Measles is the canary in the coal mine and identifies weaknesses in immunization services. We’ll see continued, or more frequent importations of the measles virus here in the United States.’
In a broader context, Janeen Madan Keller, deputy director of global health policy at the Center for Global Development, criticized the previous cuts made by the Trump administration. She deemed them ‘short-sighted and misguided,’ asserting that the impact on children in the world’s poorest nations would be devastating and likely lead to increased disease and death from vaccine-preventable illnesses.
She further noted that infectious diseases such as measles and polio transcend borders; therefore, under-immunization in one region could lead to consequences globally.
The agency’s assertions about the essential nature of its work underscore the potential risks involved if U.S. funding is withdrawn. As discussions around global vaccine distribution continue, the stakes remain considerably high, not just for international health but also for the general public’s safety back home.
image source from：npr
