Robert F. Kennedy Jr. of the Department of Health and Human Services has announced that the United States will no longer contribute to Gavi, the global health program that has vaccinated more than billions of children, the poorest children in the world.
Kennedy said in a video aired at Gabi’s fundraising event in Brussels on Wednesday that the group made suspicious recommendations for the Covid-19 vaccine. He also raised concerns about the Diphtheria-Tetanius-Whole Whole Whole Tussis vaccine, known for the acronym DTPW, but did not provide evidence to support those fears.
“I am calling on Gavi to listen to public trust again today and justify the $8 billion that America has funded since 2001,” Kennedy said in the video.
Kennedy added that before investing in a vaccine, Gavi should consider all the science available. “Until that happens, the US will not contribute any further,” he said.
Details of the video were first reported by the publication Politico and later by news outlet Reuters.
In a detailed statement, Gavi said safety is one of its top priorities and will act in line with World Health Organization recommendations.
The statement also shows Gavi is fully confident in the DTPW vaccine, which it believes has helped reduce child mortality rates in half of the country it has supported since 2000.
“The DTPW vaccine has been administered to millions of children around the world for decades, and is estimated to have saved more than 40 million lives in the last 50 years,” the statement said.
The administration of US President Donald Trump has previously shown that he had planned to cut Gavi’s funds, representing roughly $300 million a year, as part of a broader drawback from international aid.
Advocacy groups have called on the United States to reverse that decision.
“Kennedy claims Gabi ignored science,” the nonprofit consumer advocacy group, Public Citizen, wrote in a statement.
“Gavi’s recommendations are based on global evidence and are being reviewed by independent experts. Otherwise, his proposals burn the same disinformation that has already led to the outbreak of measles and the revival of vaccine-preventable diseases, including polio.”
Longtime vaccine skeptic Kennedy has overthrew U.S. healthcare providers since taking office in February. He raised questions about the possible bond between autism and vaccines, but many studies have shown that there is no link.
Earlier this month, Kennedy fired all 17 members of the Vaccine Expert Panel at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), known as the Advisory Committee on Vaccination Practices (ACIP).
The committee, created 60 years ago, acts as an independent government agency to review data and develop recommendations on who should get the vaccine. These recommendations can affect which vaccine health insurance plans can cover.
Of Kennedy’s first eight alternative members, about half of them claim to the vaccine.
Kennedy’s new vaccine advisor is holding its first meeting
The newly improved committee met for the first time Wednesday under intense scrutiny from health professionals worried about access to Americans’ life-saving shots.
But already, competition has begun to simmer within and around the panel.
Ahead of the two-day gathering, government scientists prepared meeting materials to invoke “best protection” during pregnancy. And he said most children who have been hospitalized due to Covid-19 in the past year have not been vaccinated.
But that advice contradicts Kennedy. The Health Secretary has already announced that the Covid-19 vaccine will no longer be recommended for healthy children and pregnant women, and his new advisor is not scheduled to vote this week on whether they agree.
COVID-19 remains a public health threat, resulting in 32,000 to 51,000 US deaths and more than 250,000 hospitalizations since last fall, according to the CDC.
Kennedy’s newly reconstructed panel also lost one of eight members shortly before Wednesday’s meeting.
Virginia-based obstetrician and gynecologist Michael Ross has stepped down from the committee, bringing the panel number to just seven. The Trump administration said Ross retreated during a customary review of the financial holdings of its members.
The meeting was held as the American Academy of Pediatrics announced that it would continue to publish its own vaccine schedule for children, but now it is independent of ACIP and calls it “not a reliable process.”
ACIP recommendations traditionally go to the CDC director. Historically, almost everything has been accepted and used by insurance companies in determining which vaccines to cover.
However, as the CDC currently does not have a director, the committee’s recommendations are being made to Kennedy and have not yet acted on some of the recommendations made by ACIP in April.
Separately, on Wednesday, a Senate hearing of CDC Director Susan Monales’ Trump candidates began.
During the hearing, she said she hadn’t seen evidence linking vaccines to autism and would consider a decision to cut Gabi’s funds.
“I think global health security preparation is an important and important activity for the United States,” she said.
“I think we need to continue to support promoting vaccine use.”
