The head of leading vaccine group Gavi Alliance said cutting Gavi’s funding would be “devastating”

Geneva: The director of the Gavi alliance, a major vaccination organization, said Thursday that a reduction in Gavi’s financing would be “disastrous,” perhaps leading to over a million deaths from illnesses that might be prevented.

“We haven’t received a notice of termination from the U.S. government,” Gavi CEO Sania Nishtar said. Nishtar said in a statement on Thursday that Gavi was “engaging with the White House and Congress,” seeking both longer-term support and the USD 300 million Congress had allocated for their efforts this year.

According to estimates, this political move might result in the deaths of almost 1.2 million children. Children around the world will suffer greatly as a result of the reported US government decision to stop funding Gavi, The Vaccine Alliance, which was founded 20 years ago to improve vaccine access for the world’s poorest nations, according to Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF).

Routine childhood vaccination coverage has increased since Gavi was founded in 2000, and it is estimated that this has saved the lives of 17 million children over the last 25 years, while there is still room for improvement. However, according to Gavi’s own calculations and the New York Times’ article today, the loss of US assistance for Gavi is expected to prevent some 75 million children from receiving regular vaccinations over the next five years, potentially leading to the deaths of over 1.2 million children.