U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has moved to undermine public immunization programs in the United States, took his efforts global, accusing the leading international vaccine organization of having “ignored the science” in immunizing children around the world.
In confrontational remarks sent by video to global leaders who had gathered to support the organization, Gavi, Kennedy said the United States would withdraw its financial support for the group’s work purchasing vaccines for children in poor countries.
“When vaccine safety issues have come before Gavi, Gavi has treated them not as a patient health problem, but as a public relations problem,” Kennedy said in the address. He offered no evidence for the allegation.
His speech was the first indication that the Trump administration’s decision to end funding for Gavi may be motivated by mistrust of vaccines, in addition to a desire to reduce foreign aid.
In the video, which was played in the last minutes of the summit, Kennedy accused Gavi’s leaders of being selective in their use of science to support vaccine choices, and said that the United States would not deliver on a $1.2 billion pledge made by the Biden administration until the organization changed its processes.
“In its zeal to promote universal vaccination, it has neglected the key issue of vaccine safety,” he said. “I’ll tell you how to start taking vaccine safety seriously: Consider the best science available, even when the science contradicts established paradigms. Until that happens, the United States won’t contribute more to Gavi.”
In a statement, Gavi’s leaders rejected the suggestion that its vaccine purchases were driven by anything other than the best available evidence.
“Any decision made by Gavi with regards to its vaccine portfolio is made in alignment with recommendations by the World Health Organization’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), a group of independent experts that reviews all available data through a rigorous, transparent and independent process,” Gavi’s statement said. “This ensures Gavi investments are grounded in the best available science and public health priorities.”
Dr. Atul Gawande, a surgeon who led global health work in the Biden administration, called Kennedy’s remarks “stunning and calamitous.”
“This establishes an official U.S. position against childhood vaccination and its support,” he said. “In the face of demonstration that vaccines are the single most lifesaving technology for children, over half a century, he is asserting a position that the U.S. will not support vaccination. This is utterly disastrous for children around the world and for public health.”
Kennedy is a longtime vaccine skeptic who has upended policies on vaccination in the United States since taking over the top health job for the Trump administration. His comments to the meeting in Brussels came on the same day that a key vaccine advisory panel for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention met in the United States. Kennedy fired all 17 of the previous members of the panel and replaced them with members he selected; at their first meeting, on Wednesday, many expressed skepticism about long-standing vaccine recommendations, particularly those pertaining to children.
Nevertheless, Kennedy’s address to Gavi came as a surprise; the organizers of the summit learned of it just two days in advance and scrambled to figure out where to put it on their program, which was otherwise full of technical panels on how to increase vaccination rates and a pep-rally-style pledging event at which countries announce their commitment to support Gavi’s mission.
The organization’s work is estimated to have saved the lives of 17 million children around the world over the past two decades.
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