Johannesburg – Every four years, representatives of government global alliances, drugmakers, UN agencies and charitable organizations are known as Gaveywhich helps to get vaccinated to those who need them, meetings to lock in new funding commitments. Just as this year’s meeting in Brussels ended Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of Health Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that all funding in Washington would be stopped.
In Kennedy’s Three and a Half Minute Video He shared on social media that he said the Trump administration is stopping funding from the group because it “ignored the critical issues of vaccine safety.”
Kennedy tries to distance himself from the ‘anti-vaccine’ tag Vaccine safety And be bound Anti-vaccine activist groups.
Garvey said it has helped vaccinate 1.1 billion children in 78 low-income countries, preventing more than 18.8 million deaths since it caused 25 years ago. Its focus is on bringing vaccines, especially new ones, to the point that otherwise it will be difficult to afford or access them.
Kennedy noted in the video that Garvey “ignores the critical issues of vaccine safety” and that “when vaccine safety issues arise before Garvey, Garvey sees them as a patient’s health issue, but rather as a public relations issue.”
Kevin Mohatt/Reuters
Kennedy accused Garvey of ignoring science and said the alliance must “justify the $8 billion the U.S. has given since 2001.”
The United States has long been a major contributor to Gavi’s funding, which also comes from private organizations.
From 2026 to 2030, the Biden administration has pledged $1.6 billion to the organization, which is roughly the amount promised by the Private Gate Foundation – shocked and angry throughout the Brussels meeting after Kennedy’s announcement.
Bill Gates, co-founder of Microsoft and Gates Foundation, said on social media that the move would have “destructive consequences”. He called on Congress to continue funding for Garvey, warning that if not, “more sick kids will fall behind in school” and that there will be “more overcrowded hospital wards and eventually more sad parents.”
“If Congress allows this to happen, the consequences will be devastating,” said Mark Suzman, CEO of the Gates Foundation. “Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of preventable deaths will occur, especially among mothers and children.”
Atul Gawande, a public health researcher and surgeon at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, said Kennedy would be personally responsible for the outcome of stopping U.S. government funding, which he called “travesty and Nightmare.”
“I want to see significant changes and reductions in accessing safe and effective vaccines in the poorest and most vulnerable countries in the world,” said a U.S. official with decades of experience in the global health and vaccination program. “JFK’s remarks on vaccine safety are of no help and will likely hesitate in the minds of people around the world, and we will surely see more uncontrolled vaccines predict disease outbreaks. It’s very unfortunate.”
The United Nations World Health Organization has warned since 2019 that vaccine hesitation and distrust are one of the major threats to global public health.
The goal of this year’s meeting is to obtain funding to achieve more than 90% of the organization’s global coverage and provide a basic vaccine for a variety of diseases such as diphtheria, tetanus and measles. Gavi received more than $9 billion in funding pledges on Wednesday but hopes to earn $11.9 billion in revenue over the next five years with the goal of exempting 500 million children worldwide.
Other countries recognized the importance of Garvey and improved their contributions at their meeting on Wednesday.
The highest list is the UK
Foreign Secretary David Lammy announced $1.7 billion over the next five years, making Gavi’s new biggest donor new.
Garner’s President John Darami Mahama spoke at the Garvey meeting on Wednesday, starting with a detailed look at his brother’s fight against polio and the stigma associated with the disease, which has actually been eliminated worldwide due to the vaccination program initiated in the late 1980s.
“I understand the importance of vaccines,” Mahama told the delegation.
Ghana’s vaccine was close to zero when his brother was diagnosed, but the president said that through a partnership with Garvey, 97% of the population is now vaccinated.
He said officials are still working to reach the last 3% – about “65,000 children in remote areas, hard-to-save vaccines” – Ghana plans to no longer need Garvey’s support from 2030 to 2030.
Mahama concluded his speech with a theme comparison, saying, “The cost of a B-2 mental bomber that abandons Iranian bombs is $2.13 billion”, he has done math and added, “Of course, the world can afford the value of four B-2 bombers to save 500 million children. We have to make a choice. We have to make a choice.”
