We to end the funds for vaccines for poor countries

The Trump administration intends to stop the financial support of the United States for Gavi, the organization that has contributed to buying critical vaccines for children in developing countries, saving millions of lives in the last quarter of the century and significantly reduced the support for efforts to combat malaria, one of the greatest assassins at a global level.

The administration has decided to continue some key subsidies for drugs for the treatment of HIV and tuberculosis and food aid to the countries that face civil wars and natural catastrophes.

These decisions are included in a 281 -page calculation sheet that the United States Agency for international development sent to Congress on Monday evening, listing the foreign aid projects that it plans to continue and stop. The New York Times has obtained a copy of the calculation sheet and other documents that describe the plans.

The documents provide a wide overview of the extraordinary scale of the retirement of the administration from an effort along the half century to present the United States in the world developing as a compassionate ally and to guide the fight against infectious diseases that kill millions of people every year.

The accompanying letter describes in detail the Usaid skeletal remains after the cuts, with most of its eliminated funding and only 869 of over 6,000 employees still in active service.

Overall, the Administration has decided to continue 898 USID Awards and to conclude 5,341, says the letter. He says that the remaining programs are worth up to $ 78 billion. But only $ 8.3 billion of this are non -rustic funds: money still available to deliver. Since this amount covers the prizes that take place several years in the future, the figure suggests a massive reduction of the $ 40 billion that Usaid used every year.

A spokesman for the State Department, who now manages what remains of Usaid, confirmed that the ending in the list were accurate and said that “each prize ended was revised individually by alignment with the priorities of agency and administration and the resolutions were performed in which the secretary Rubio determined that the prize was inconsistent with the priorities of the policy of national interest or agencies”.

The memo at the congress presents the plan for foreign assistance as a unilateral decision. However, since spending for individual health programs such as HIV or vaccination is assigned to Congress, it is not clear that the administration has a legal power to end these programs. This problem is currently in contrast in multiple judicial challenges.

Among the programs interrupted there is the financing for the organization for the power and agriculture of the United Nations, which leads surveillance for diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans, including avian influenza, in 49 countries. Some important programs have also ended to trace and fight malaria, one of the best killers in the world of children.

Dr. Austin Demby, Minister of Health of the Sierra Leone, who is based on the support of Gavi to help buy vaccines, said he was “shocked and troubled” by the decision to stop US funding and warned that the branches would be felt all over the world.

“This is not just a bureaucratic decision, they are at stake for children, global health security will be at stake,” he said. “Support Gavi in ​​Sierra Leone is not just a question of the Sierra Leone, it is something that the region, the world, benefits.”

In addition to trying to reach all children with routine immunizations, Sierra Leone is currently fighting with a Mpox outbreak, for which Gavi provided both the vaccines and the critical support to deliver them, he said.

“We hope that the United States government will continue to be the global leader who has always been: putting money in Gavi is not an expense, it is an investment,” said dr. Demby

It is estimated that Gavi has saved the life of 19 million children since it was established 25 years ago. The United States contribute to 13 percent of its budget.

The subsidy ended in Gavi was worth $ 2.6 billion until 2030. Gavi had a commitment held last year by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. for his next financing cycle.

New vaccines with the promise to save millions of lives in low -income countries, such as one To protect children from serious malaria and another Protect teenage girls from the virus that causes cervical cancerThey have recently become available and Gavi was expanding the support portfolio that could give to those countries.

The loss of US funds will restore the organization’s ability to continue to provide its range of basic services – such as immunization for measles and polio – to a growing population of children in the poorest countries, not to mention the expansion to include new vaccines.

According to Gavi’s estimate, the loss of the support of the United States can mean that 75 million children do not receive routine vaccinations in the next five years, with over 1.2 million children who die accordingly.

The United States were among the best donors of the organization from its creation and became the largest during the Covid-19 pandemic. While European countries have historically provided significant funding, many are now reducing spending on foreign aid while dealing with the change in US policy on Ukraine and the demand for the United States that increase their defense expenses. Japan, another great Gavi donor, is struggling with a deprecious currency.

Dr. Sania Nishtar, CEO of Gavi, claimed to hope that the Trump administration would reconsider the decision to end its support. Gavi’s work keeps people everywhere, including Americans, safe, he said. In addition to protecting individual children, vaccination reduces the possibility of large outbreaks. The organization maintains global stocks for vaccines against diseases such as ebola and cholera, distributing them in rapid response efforts for epidemics.

The Gavi structure requires countries to pay part of the cost of vaccines, with their share that increases with the increase in income levels; Average income countries are weaned by support.

The reminder states that 869 Usaid staff worked starting from last Friday, while 3,848 were on administrative leave and 1,602 are about to be fired. Of the 300 employees of supervised freedom that were initially fired, 270 returned to work following an order of the court that prohibits their dismissal.