US pulls funding from global vaccines group, saying it has ‘ignored the science'
LONDON (AP) — U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said the country is pulling its support from the vaccines alliance Gavi, saying the organization has 'ignored the science' and 'lost the public trust.'
A video of Kennedy's speech was shown to participants at a Gavi meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, where the vaccines group was hoping to raise at least $9 billion for the next five years.
Gavi is a public-private partnership including WHO, UNICEF, the Gates Foundation and the World Bank. It has paid for more than 1 billion children to be
vaccinated
through routine immunization programs, saving an estimated 18 million lives. The U.S. has long been one of its biggest supporters; before Trump's re-election, the country had pledged $1 billion through 2030.
Kennedy called on Gavi 'to re-earn the public trust and to justify the $8 billion America has provided in funding since 2001,' saying officials must 'consider the best science available, even when that science contradicts established paradigms.' Kennedy said until that happens, the U.S. won't contribute further to Gavi.
Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, said he and President Trump were concerned about how Gavi and the World Health Organization partnered together during the COVID-19 pandemic to work with social media companies 'to silence dissenting views, to stifle free speech and legitimate questions' during a time when many people had questions about vaccine safety.
Kennedy
said Gavi continues to make 'questionable recommendations,' like advising pregnant women to get immunized against COVID-19 and funding the roll-out of a vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis in poorer countries.
WHO and other health authorities have recommended pregnant women get vaccinated against COVID-19, saying they are at higher risk of severe disease.
Kennedy said he has seen research that concluded that young girls vaccinated against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis were more likely to die from all other causes than children who weren't immunized.
Gavi said in a
statement
Thursday that its 'utmost concern is the health and safety of children.' The organization said any decision it makes on vaccines to buy is done in accordance with recommendations issued by WHO's expert vaccine group.
'This ensures Gavi investments are grounded in the best available science and public health priorities,' it said. Gavi said scientists had reviewed all available data, including any studies that raised concerns, and that the diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis vaccine has 'played a key role in helping halve childhood mortality.'
The British government said Wednesday it would give 1.25 billion pounds ($1.7 billion) between 2026 and 2030 to Gavi. It said the money would help Gavi protect up to 500 million children in some of the world's poorest countries from diseases including meningitis, cholera and measles.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute's Department of Science Education and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fast Company
33 minutes ago
- Fast Company
Merck's RSV shot for infants gets key approval despite RFK Jr.'s panel shakeup
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has previously made statements skeptical of vaccines, is now recommending the respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine for infants. On Thursday, RFK's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) voted to recommend clesrovimab, a new RSV antibody shot made by Merck, for infants 8 months and younger who don't have protection from a maternal vaccine (a vaccine received in pregnancy). A broader vaccine review is underway The decision comes after the panel announced on Wednesday it would be reviewing the current childhood immunization schedule. The committee is set to vote on recommendations for the influenza vaccine, as well. The RSV shot was approved for use in infants earlier this month by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). 'ENFLONSIA provides an important new preventive option to help protect healthy and at-risk infants born during or entering their first RSV season with the same dose regardless of weight,' said Dr. Dean Y. Li, president, Merck Research Laboratories, said at the time. Li continued, 'We are committed to ensuring availability of ENFLONSIA in the U.S. before the start of the upcoming RSV season to help reduce the significant burden of this widespread seasonal infection on families and health care systems.' According to the CDC, RSV infects nearly everyone by age 2, causing cold symptoms, and sometimes, breathing struggles. In the U.S., around 300 infant deaths are caused by RSV each year. The vote, which passed with five for the vaccine and two against, is the first decision from RFK's committee, made up of members whom RFK handpicked after dismissing the previous panel of 17 members in its entirety. The current panel includes some vaccine skeptics. Retsef Levi, an operations management professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Vicki Pebsworth, the research director of a group focused on preventing vaccine injuries and deaths, were the two members who voted against the shot. Kennedy's history of vaccine misinformation Trump's controversial pick for HHS Secretary has frequently made false claims on the topic of vaccines. In regard to COVID, Kennedy once falsely claimed that some race groups have natural immunity to the virus. 'COVID-19 attacks certain races disproportionately,' Kennedy said. 'COVID-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people. The people who are most immune are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese.' RFK's critics feel that having a vaccine skeptic at the helm of the HHS is already cause for concern after the CDC began postponing meetings on national vaccine recommendations in February. After the committee also announced that it would start a renewed review of all recommended pediatric vaccines, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) put out a video titled, 'AAP Steps up on Vaccine Recommendations,' which warned that immunization policy through ACIP is 'no longer a credible process' under RFK's leadership. The AAP added that it will continue to publish its own recommendations on vaccines for children. Uncertainty at the CDC's helm Thursday's recommendation from RFK's panel still has to be endorsed by the CDC. However, there is major confusion surrounding who is currently in charge of the organization, as it doesn't seem to have a clear leader. Kennedy, and others, have recently sidestepped questions about the matter. Then, last week, RFK gave the name 'Matt Buzzelli,' who he described as 'a public health expert' when Senator Lisa Blunt Rochester pressed him on who the current acting director was. The CDC's leadership page has Matthew Buzzelli, a trial lawyer with no health-related experience, listed fourth as the agency's chief of staff. Following the exchange, the Senator sent RFK a letter, expressing grave concern.
Fox News
37 minutes ago
- Fox News
Trump admin ends contracts with publishing giant Springer Nature amid bias, China concerns
The Trump administration has stopped key funding for Springer Nature, the retraction-plagued, controversial publishing behemoth of more than 3,000 scientific and medical journals. Springer Nature publications have long earned subscription revenue from academic and government institutions, but the Trump administration has terminated one key contract and allowed three others to expire, a Trump administration official told Fox News Digital. National Institutes of Health (NIH) and cancer research pacts were deemed "mission essential" and therefore will remain intact, Fox News Digital has learned. The Trump administration has cracked down on organizations with perceived political bias, business practices that the president believes misuse U.S. taxpayer dollars and foreign control. The German-owned Springer Nature was forced to issue 2,923 retractions in 2024, according to Retraction Watch. The publishing giant has also been accused of significantly downplaying the COVID lab-leak theory and censoring content to appease the Chinese government. It also has a "peer review" process that critics believe is dominated by woke groupthink. The brand's popular "Nature Medicine" journal was cited frequently in a 2023 congressional report from the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic titled, "The Proximal Origin of a Cover-up." Nature Medicine republished in March 2020 a report from a month earlier in Virological titled "The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2" that concluded the virus was "not a laboratory construct or a purposefully manipulated virus." "This is one of the single most impactful and influential scientific papers in history, and it expressed conclusions that were not based on sound science nor in fact, but instead on assumptions," the congressional report's executive summary stated. The Select Subcommittee report even suggested former NIAID director Dr. Anthony Fauci pushed for the publication of the entry that sought to dispel the Wuhan lab-leak theory. Fauci has denied any role in the article and said while he favored the natural-origin theory for the virus, he always had an open mind about the lab leak. In 2017, Springer Nature was "caught blocking access to academic research in China," CNN reported at the time. A spokesperson for Springer Nature brushed off concerns when asked for comment about the Trump administration terminating a contract and allowing others to expire. "We are proud of our track record in communicating U.S. research to the rest of the world for over a century and continue to have good relationships with U.S. federal agencies," a spokesperson for Springer Nature told Fox News Digital. "We don't comment on individual contracts, but across our global business there is no material change to our customers or their spend," the spokesperson continued. "We remain confident about the strength of the service we provide." Springer Nature did not immediately respond to follow-up questions about political bias, allegedly appeasing China, or use of taxpayer funds. The funding termination was first reported by Axios. Axios also reported that the Justice Department formally sent a letter asking a Springer publication about "its editorial practices and accusing the publishing house of acting as a partisan in scientific debates, as well as wrongfully advocating for positions," citing a source with knowledge of the matter. Springer Nature also publishes Scientific American, which endorsed then-Vice President Kamala Harris ahead of the 2024 presidential election. It was only the second time in 179 years that the publication endorsed a candidate for president. "Before making this endorsement, we evaluated Harris's record as a U.S. senator and as vice president under Joe Biden, as well as policy proposals she's made as a presidential candidate. Her opponent, Donald Trump, who was president from 2017 to 2021, also has a record—a disastrous one," Scientific American editors wrote. Springer Nature also practices diversity, equity, and including (DEI) policies, according to its website. The company's website has a "diversity commitment" section that details the publisher's commitment to "promoting practices that support diversity and inclusion in science communication and publishing." "As a guiding principle, we aim to foster equity, diversity and inclusion within our internal practices and in published content, embody these values in all our editorial activities and to support and promote these values in the research community," the website states. Springer Nature lists its priorities as increasing gender diversity among commissioned authors, and peer reviewer population and editorial board members, while promising to maintain a "no men-only" policy at its conferences. Nature magazine also has "a language sensitivity guide," billed as a "resource of appropriate language to use when writing about topics such as ethnicity, race, gender, sexuality, disability and health" to ensure "appropriately diverse representation" in its pages. "We are currently developing our commitment on other aspects of diversity, prioritizing ethnic and racial diversity," the website states. At the height of the George Floyd protests in June 2020, the company committed to ending "anti-Black practices in research." The following month it published an editorial recognizing "the existence of systemic racism in medicine" and calling for it to stop. Along the way, Springer Nature issued 2,923 retractions in 2024, according to Retraction Watch. Springer Nature noted that the majority were from articles published before 2023. "61.5% (1797 articles) of retractions were for papers published before January 2023 as part of our commitment to cleaning up the academic record. 38.5% (1126) of retractions were for articles published after January 2023," it stated. It also published 482,000 articles in 2024, so there were many that checked out, and Retraction Watch co-founder Ivan Oransky doesn't believe the correction issue is as alarming as it seems. "Springer Nature, like all major scientific publishers, has had to retract thousands of papers over the past several years because paper mills and other bad actors have taken advantage of poor quality control," Oransky told Fox News Digital. Springer Nature retracted articles for "compromised peer review process," "inappropriate or irrelevant references," and "citation behavior" that resulted in the publisher no longer having "confidence in the results and conclusions" that were published. Last year, Springer Nature found itself in the news when Laura Helmuth, the top editor at its "Scientific American" journal, referred to Americans who voted for Trump as the "meanest, dumbest, most bigoted" group and "f---ing fascists." As Trump pulled ahead on Election Day, Helmuth repeatedly attacked the candidate's supporters on Bluesky, a social media platform that is popular with liberals. "Solidarity to everybody whose meanest, dumbest, most bigoted high-school classmates are celebrating early results because f--- them to the moon and back," Helmuth wrote, while another post said, "I apologize to younger voters that my Gen X is so full of f---ing fascists." Helmuth eventually apologized and deleted the comments. She resigned a few days later.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
UK health officials say patient's death partially down to cyberattack
(Fixes typo in headline) By Raphael Satter and AJ Vicens WASHINGTON (Reuters) -A cyberattack last year against British diagnostic services provider Synnovis contributed to the death of a London hospital patient, British health officials said, providing one of the first confirmations of a death tied to hacking activity. The patient at King's College Hospital in south London died in part because the hack caused a "long wait" for blood test results as well as other factors, the hospital's managing body said on Wednesday, without identifying what they were. The hospital said the patient's family had been informed but did not provide other details. Synnovis' CEO Mark Dollar said in a statement Wednesday: "We are deeply saddened to hear that last year's criminal cyberattack has been identified as one of the contributing factors that led to this patient's death." In the June 2024 hack - attributed to the Qilin ransomware gang - media reports said attackers demanded $50 million from Synnovis for its data. The company did not pay, and the stolen data was later published on the dark web, reports said. The attack disrupted the U.K. healthcare network, and snarled operations at some of London's busiest hospitals. In January Synnovis said the hack led to more than 32 million pounds ($43 million) in costs. Medical services providers have been hard hit by ransomware as hackers suspect they will pay quickly to avoid interruptions to healthcare. Deaths have been tied to past ransomware incidents, including a baby in Alabama in 2019 and a 78-year-old woman in Germany in 2020, although direct causation can be difficult to establish. The Qilin hackers did not respond to a request for comment on the death. News of the U.K. death was first reported by British healthcare publication HSJ. ($1 = 0.7323 pounds)
