U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sent a prerecorded video speech for attendees of Gavi’s high-level pledging conference today in Brussels, stating that the U.S. won’t contribute to the organization anymore until it works to “re-earn the public trust.” But some are questioning whether the Trump administration can do this — as Congress is tasked with allocating funding to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
Kennedy’s video announcement, seen by Devex, comes after months of uncertainty on whether the U.S. government would fulfill a pledge made by former U.S. President Joe Biden’s administration last June to provide at least $1.58 billion in order to support Gavi’s work from 2026 through 2030.
The U.S. reneging on that pledge is a major blow to the leading international organization tasked with providing vaccines to lower-income countries.