RFK Jr. says U.S. will stop funding global vaccine group over 'vaccine safety' issues
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The international vaccine agency,
Gavi, has strongly rejected HHS Secretary Kennedy's accusations that it was not following scientific data on vaccines, after he said the U.S. would halt all contributions unless the body made changes to its practices.
Kennedy remarks were made at a Gavi pledging summit in Brussels on Wednesday, where countries and philanthropies promise to deliver funds. A video of Kennedy's remarks, first reported by
Politico and later
posted by The New York Times, show him praising Gavi for its mission of making medicine affordable to everyone but then pivoting to criticisms. He says the group "ignores the science" when it comes to vaccine safety and calls on Gavi to "re-earn the public trust" before the U.S. would reconsider its decision to end U.S. contributions.
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The international agency, established in 2000, says it has played a role in vaccinating 1.1 billion children against a long list of potentially debilitating diseases from polio to malaria to mpox to measles, and claims credit for saving 20 million lives. Global health experts say Gavi is instrumental in getting vaccinations to lower-resource countries, providing cash to buy vaccines and support for disease outbreak response.
The U.S. has been one of the largest donors to Gavi, funding about 13% of the agency's budget. Under the Biden Administration, the U.S. pledged $2.53 billion starting in September 2022 through the year 2030.
… Kennedy's position would not be the first time that President Trump's team has sought to reduce U.S. support for the agency. The administration cut more than a billion dollars in funding to Gavi as part of its foreign assistance shakeup earlier this year.…”