Cut to Gavi's funding to impact our ability to protect children: Professor José Manuel Barroso

Hindustan Times

05-05-2025

Professor José Manuel Barroso, chair of the board of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, spoke to HT about his India visit and the nature of India-Gavi partnership. He also looked back at Gavi's 25-year-old journey; and the changes he foresees in Gavi's role in helping countries in the future; and the impact of US threatening to pull out as a contributor.
What was the agenda behind your recent India visit?
My recent visit to India reinforced the strong Gavi-India partnership and celebrated immunization progress since 2002. The current India-Gavi partnership represents a strong example of immunization collaboration within Gavi-supported countries. We are developing a roadmap for our collaboration beyond 2026, shifting towards targeted technical assistance, innovation partnerships, and knowledge sharing as India strengthens its global health leadership and Gavi donor role. Also, as part of our strategic partnership we will be supporting the Government of India to roll-out the HPV vaccine, in a push to eliminate cervical cancer in the country.
How would you rate Gavi's journey so far?
Over the past 25 years, Gavi has been highly impactful, immunizing over 1.1 billion children, preventing 18.8 million deaths, and halving child mortality in 78 lower-income countries. We also bolster global health security through health system support and vaccine stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningococcal and yellow fever vaccines. Our model relies on co-financing, with countries progressively contributing to their vaccine costs. We aim to expand our impact in the 2026-2030 period, protecting more people against more diseases faster.
How easy or difficult is it to sustain multilateral partnerships given Gavi is all about public-private global partnerships?
Maintaining political engagement and alignment across our diverse partners — governments, international organizations, manufacturers, civil society, and the private sector — is crucial for long-term sustainability, especially amid a complex funding environment.
What impact do you see of US pulling out as a contributor on Gavi's functioning?
While Gavi has not received any official notification regarding changes in US funding, recent reports are certainly extremely concerning. The US has been a long-standing partner with strong bipartisan support for over 25 years, including during the previous administration, and Congress recently approved $300 million for Gavi in the FY 2025 budget.
Any cut to Gavi's funding would have a devastating impact on our ability to protect children and keep our world safe. Gavi operates as an incredibly lean and efficient organisation, spending 97 cents of every dollar directly on life-saving programmes and delivering an estimated return of $54 in broader economic benefits for every $1 invested.
If you could specifically talk about some of the projects/initiatives that are likely to get disrupted.
The US currently contributes roughly 15% of Gavi's funding. A cut of this magnitude could translate, in rough terms, to 75 million fewer children protected during our 2026-2030 strategic period, leading potentially to 1.3 million more deaths from preventable illnesses. It would directly and negatively impact our capacity to protect the world against infectious disease threats through our global vaccine stockpiles (covering diseases like Ebola, cholera, meningitis, yellow fever) and our emergency response funds, which have proven crucial in recent events like the mpox outbreak.
Are there any alternatives that Gavi members are looking at to meet the overall funding requirement?
Gavi is focused on securing its target of at least $ 9 billion for the 2026-2030 period through contributions from its diverse range of partners. However, we recognize the current global funding environment is very complex and constrained. We have a broad base of sovereign donors, foundations, and private sector partners. Critically, implementing countries themselves are co-financing vaccine programmes at increasing levels, contributing nearly half of the costs in the upcoming strategic period. So far, 19 countries have already graduated entirely from Gavi support, and some, like India and Indonesia, have transitioned to become Gavi donors.
Given this broad existing base and the significant contributions already being made by implementing countries, it would be extremely difficult for other partners to make up a major shortfall should one occur.
Going forward, do you see any changes in the role that Gavi will be playing while helping needy countries?
Doing more, faster; enhanced health security (expanding stockpiles (such as adding mpox, in addition to Ebola, cholera, meningococcal and yellow fever vaccines); addressing climate change (nearly half our vaccine portfolio addresses diseases sensitive to climate shifts); tailored support (Adapting our support for countries as they develop); and leveraging innovation (Continuing to embrace AI, predictive analytics, and digital tools).