US pulls funding from global vaccines group, saying it has ‘ignored the science’
London – American health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
A video of Kennedy’s speech was shown to participants at a Gavi meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, where the vaccine group hoped to raise at least $ 9 billion for the next five years.
Gavi is a public-private partnership including WHO, UNICEF, the Gates Foundation and the World Bank. He paid more than a billion children to be vaccinated through routine immunization programs, which will save around 18 million lives. The United States has long been one of its greatest supporters; Before Trump’s re -election, the country had promised $ 1 billion until 2030.
Kennedy called Gavi “to rearore public confidence and justify the $ 8 billion that America has provided in funding since 2001”, saying that managers must “consider the best available science, even when this science contradicts established paradigms”. Kennedy said that until it happens, the United States will not contribute more to Gavi.
Kennedy, a long-standing skeptical of the vaccine, said that he and President Trump were concerned about the way Gavi and the World Health Organization were established together during the Covid-19 pandemic to work with social media societies “to silence dissident opinions, to stifle freedom of expression and legitimate questions” at a time when many people had questions about vaccine security.
Kennedy said Gavi continues to make “questionable recommendations”, such as adviser to pregnant women to dress in COVID-19 and to finance the deployment of a diphtheria vaccine, tetanus and whooping in poor countries.
WHO and other health authorities have recommended that pregnant women will be vaccinated against COVID-19, saying they are more at risk of serious illness.
Kennedy said he had seen research that concluded that young girls vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus and darling were more likely to die from all other causes than children who were not immune.
Gavi said in a statement on Thursday that “his greatest concern is the health and safety of children.” The organization said that any decision it makes on the vaccines to buy is made in accordance with the recommendations issued by the WHO expert vaccine group.
“This guarantees that GAVI investments are based on the best scientific and public health priorities available,” he said. Gavi said that scientists have examined all the available data, including all studies that have raised concerns, and that the diphtheria, tetanus and whooping vaccine “played a key role in infantile mortality aid.
The British government said on Wednesday that it would give 1.25 billion pounds ($ 1.7 billion) between 2026 and 2030 in Gavi. He said money would help Gavi protect up to 500 million children in some of the poorest countries in the world from diseases, including meningitis, cholera and measles.
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