Kennedy Says US Will Not Provide Financial Support To Gavi

Reuters (6/25, Sunny, Roy, Rigby) reports HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Wednesday that the US government would no longer contribute to Gavi, “a global alliance that helps buy vaccines for the world’s poorest children, because it ignores safety.” In a recorded video delivered to the fundraising summit in Brussels, Kennedy acknowledged that he admired much of Gavi’s work, but he said, “Unfortunately, in its zeal to promote universal vaccination, it has neglected the key issue of vaccine safety.” Kennedy then “accused Gavi of making questionable recommendations around COVID-19 vaccines, and raised concerns about the DTPw (diphtheria-tetanus-whole cell pertussis) vaccine.” In response, Gavi said in a statement that “it has full confidence in the DTPw vaccine, which has contributed to halving child mortality in the countries it supports since 2000.”