Britain slashes global vaccine budget, putting millions of women and girls at risk

Telegraph

5 hours ago

Britain has slashed its funding for the Gavi global vaccine partnership by 40 per cent in real terms, putting millions of women and girls at risk from cervical cancer and other diseases.
The government will now contribute £1.25 billion to Gavi – which facilitates the vaccination of nearly half of the world's children – for the next five years, down from the £1.6 billion pledge given in 2020.
It comes as Britain and other western powers have dramatically cut their aid budgets in recent months as they prepare to ramp up spending on defence.
Speaking exclusively to The Telegraph, Baroness Chapman, the Minister of International Development said: 'We've had to make some really tough choices. But we've decided as a government that we want to invest in defence, because that's the world we are in.
'When we cut the aid budget, we knew we'd have to cut things that are globally good. Gavi would be something it would be great to put more money into in future and I hope we can, but for today this is a good pledge from the UK,' she said.
Britain's funding cut represents a 40 per cent reduction in real terms after accounting for inflation.
It will threaten funding for 23 million child vaccinations over the next five years, potentially causing an additional 350,000 deaths, according to estimates by the ONE campaign.
Andrew Mitchell, former Conservative International Development Secretary, condemned the government's 'brutal' cut to Gavi, warning it will 'leave Britain less safe and more vulnerable to disease.'
In another major blow, the US announced at Gavi's pledge summit in Brussels today that it would cut its support entirely for the organisation. It had given $1.13 billion in the organisation's last funding round.
In an inflammatory video message delivered to the summit, US health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Junior accused Gavi of neglecting vaccine safety, and criticised its decision making around Covid-19 immunisation recommendations and the use of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTPw) vaccine in low-income countries.
Global vaccine experts rejected the jibe, saying they had 'full confidence' in the DTPw vaccine.
Gavi is relying on raising at least $9 billion to support its work between 2026-2030.
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is a public-private partnership that procures and distributes vaccines at significantly reduced prices to the world's poorest countries. It targets diseases such as HPV, malaria, yellow fever, COVID-19, Ebola, measles, and typhoid.
It was founded by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF, the World Bank and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000. It has immunised over a billion children worldwide and is estimated to have saved more than 18 million lives.
The UK has historically been the organisation's largest sovereign donor.
Baroness Chapman, appointed Minister for International Development earlier this year shortly after the UK government cut its aid budget from 0.5 to 0.3 per cent of gross national income – the lowest level in 25 years – said foreign assistance should not just be about 'doing good' but about helping countries to 'stand on [their] own two feet.'
However, experts argue that Gavi is one of the best ways to achieve that goal.
The International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm), Gavi's innovative funding mechanism which former Chancellor Gordon Brown helped design, is widely regarded as one of the most effective and sustainable aid projects in history.
Every dollar invested in Gavi is estimated to generate a $54 return on investment – far outperforming traditional markets like the Dow Jones, which returned $2.26 per dollar over the past decade.
Over the past 25 years, 19 countries, including Indonesia and India, have successfully transitioned out of Gavi support and are now donors themselves.
The UK government has been a key champion of Gavi's accelerated rollout of the HPV vaccine to adolescent girls in developing countries, aiming to eradicate cervical cancer, which kills around 300,000 women annually.
During Gavi's 2026–2030 strategic period, it plans to vaccinate an additional 120 million girls with the HPV vaccine. However, these plans may be scaled back due to the funding shortfall.
'The HPV vaccine is a real game changer in the fight against cervical cancer [...] But again, we have had to make a decision about putting more money into defense. Therefore there's less money to spend on overseas aid,' Baroness Chapman said.
The organisation's work does not just benefit its recipients, say experts, but protects all countries from the risk of future pandemics.
'We've learned through Covid that if you have a pandemic, or if you have viruses emerging from other parts of the world, no matter how far away they might be, that none of us are safe, it is a global challenge and Gavi is huge part of that answer,' said Baroness Chapman.
Gavi's CEO Sania Nishtar told The Telegraph: 'The UK relationship for GAVI is super important. The UK is where GAVI was born. We've had bipartisan support from both sides of the aisle in the last 25 years. We're very grateful for the pledge at this very difficult moment.'