WASHINGTON, United States(AFP)— A halt to US funding for Gavi, an organisation that vaccinates children in the worlds poorest countries, will leave a dangerous gap threatening the lives of millions, its chief warned on Monday.

“The first impact would be for the most vulnerable children of the world,” Gavi chief executive Sania Nishtar told AFP.

She spoke via video link from Washington, during a visit to try to convince US authorities that their 25-year collaboration with the Geneva-based organisation must continue.

The New York Times broke the news last week that President Donald Trump’s administration, which has been aggressively slashing foreign aid, aims to cut all funding to Gavi.

That step featured in a 281-page spreadsheet related to a cuts to USAID that was sent to the US Congress.

The decision would impact about 14 percent of Gavi’s core budget — and came just days after the Congress had approved $300 million in funding for the organisation.

“I was very, very surprised,” Nishtar said, adding that her organisation still had received no official termination notice from the US government.

The medical doctor and former minister and senator in Pakistan said: “Gavi was supported by the previous Trump administration. We had a very good relationship.”

If the cuts go ahead, Nishtar warned it would have devastating effects.

– ‘Children will die’ –
“Frankly, this is too big a hole to be filled,” Nishtar warned, even as Gavi scrambled to find donors to offset the missing US funding.

“Something will have to be cut.”

Gavi says it helps vaccinate more than half the world’s children against infectious diseases including Covid-19, Ebola, malaria, rabies, polio, cholera, tuberculosis (TB), typhoid and yellow fever.

Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has provided vaccines to more than 1.1 billion children in 78 lower-income countries, “preventing more than 18.8 million future deaths,” it says.

Before the US decision, the organisation has a goal of vaccinating 500 million more children between 2026 to 2030.

The US contribution is directly responsible for funding 75 million of those vaccinations, Nishtar said.

Without them, “around 1.3 million children will die from vaccine-preventable diseases”.

Beyond Gavi’s core immunisation programmes, the funding cut would jeopardise the stockpiling and roll-out of vaccines against outbreaks and in health emergencies, including for Ebola, cholera and mpox.

“The world’s ability to protect itself against outbreaks and health emergencies will be compromised,” Nishtar said.