Blindsided by Trump, Vaccine Chief Fights to Reverse Funding Cut

(Bloomberg) — The head of the global organization responsible for vaccinating children in the world’s poorest countries is headed to Washington, hoping to persuade the Trump administration to reverse a surprise decision to halt all US funding — a move that has blindsided the group and threatens millions of lives.

Gavi, the Geneva-based vaccine alliance, received no formal notification before learning from a leaked document that the US plans to terminate its financial support. Chief Executive Officer Sania Nishtar said the organization had every reason to believe that US funding would continue into 2025, following Congress’s approval of $300 million for Gavi in the budget passed earlier this month.

“Any reduced funding scenario would be quite devastating,” Nishtar said in an interview. The US currently underwrites about 15% of Gavi’s budget. If the funding is withdrawn, Nishtar estimates that 75 million children will go unvaccinated — and 1.3 million lives could be lost.

Gavi pools financing to secure low-cost vaccines, supports distribution infrastructure, and ensures drugmakers continue producing immunizations for low-income markets. It has helped vaccinate more than 1 billion children since its founding in 2000 and played a central role in distributing COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX initiative.

“We’ve had bipartisan support from the US — both sides of the aisle, Democrats, Republicans — for the last 25 years,” Nishtar said, adding that the Trump administration backed Gavi during the president’s previous term. “This circulating list is very concerning and what we want to do is to explain to them what the consequences of these will be.” 

The leaked document, reviewed by Bloomberg News and first reported by The New York Times, indicates the administration intends to cancel the entire $2.6 billion commitment to Gavi from 2022 to 2030. The US typically disburses Gavi funding toward the end of each year, meaning the $300 million earmarked for 2025 may never materialize.

The ramifications stretch far beyond childhood immunizations. Gavi also maintains emergency vaccine stockpiles and can swiftly deploy funds during outbreaks and pandemics. Without US support, that global safety net would be weakened.

“Since its creation, Gavi has been critical in cutting childhood deaths in half,” said billionaire Bill Gates, whose philanthropic foundation was one of Gavi’s founding partners and remains a major supporter, in a statement. “Without US funding for Gavi, more children will die from preventable diseases and outbreaks will grow more frequent and harder to contain.”

Africa is already bracing for the fallout. The earmarked cut is “not good news at all,” said Ngashi Ngongo, principal adviser at Africa CDC. He noted that a joint team from UNICEF and the Africa CDC is already assessing the implications of the funding freeze for public health across the continent.

Nishtar plans to travel to Washington on Monday for meetings with officials. “I hope that that they will appreciate the value that Gavi brings, the importance of our ongoing partnership,” she said.

–With assistance from Janice Kew.

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