Summary:
Public health experts and other critics on Wednesday condemned the Trump administration’s decision to cut off funding to the global vaccine alliance Gavi, which the organization estimates could result in the deaths of over 1 million children.
“Abhorrent. Evil. Indefensible,” Atlantic staff writer Clint Smith said on social media in response to exclusive reporting from The New York Times, which obtained documents including a 281-page spreadsheet that “the skeletal remains” of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) sent to Congress on Monday.
The leaked materials detail 898 awards that the Trump administration plans to continue and 5,341 it intends to end. A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department, which runs the gutted USAID, confirmed the list is accurate and said that “each award terminated was reviewed individually for alignment with agency and administration priorities.”
The United States contributes 13% of Gavi’s budget and the terminated grant was worth $2.6 billion through 2030, according to the Times. Citing the alliance, the newspaper noted that cutting off U.S. funds “may mean 75 million children do not receive routine vaccinations in the next five years, with more than 1.2 million children dying as a result.”
President Mortality and Morbidity.