Headline Roundup • March 26th, 2025
USAID To Cut Funding For Vaccines in Developing Countries
Summary from the AllSides News Team
On Monday, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) sent documents to Congress outlining which programs will continue and which it will cut; one of the terminated programs provides funding for vaccines in developing countries.
The Details: USAID will continue 898 programs and terminate 5,341. Included in the terminated programs is a $2.6 billion contract with Gavi, a global organization that purchases vaccines for developing countries. USAID will, however, continue grants for H.I.V. and tuberculosis medications.
For Context: The US is the third-largest contributor to Gavi, making up 12% of its budget. U.S. contributions have grown by over $125 million in the past decade. The Department of Government Efficiency has made efforts to downsize USAID since President Donald Trump began his second term. In a response on X, Gavi said that without US support, “we could not have halved child mortality, saved 18 million lives or helped 19 countries transition from our support,” and that it hopes a partnership can continue in the future.
How the Media Covered It: The New York Times (Lean Left bias) said these cuts reveal the “administration’s retreat from a half-century-long effort to present the United States to the developing world as a compassionate ally.” The Hill (Center) highlighted Gavi’s past accomplishments in world health and went on to quote the group Public Citizen, which questioned the legality of the move. The Telegraph (Lean Right) cited the State Department’s statement that it decided to terminate all programs that Secretary Marco Rubio found to be “inconsistent with the national interest or agency policy priorities.”
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Featured Coverage of this Story
BARBARA DEBOUT/AFP via Getty Images
The United States is poised to stop funding Gavi, a major global vaccine partnership credited with saving the lives of millions of children.
President Donald Trump’s administration also plans to dramatically scale back its support for work to combat malaria, but will continue to fund some grants for drugs that treat HIV and tuberculosis, as well as provide food aid to countries hit by wars and natural disasters.
AFP, via Getty Images
The Trump administration intends to terminate the United States’ financial support for Gavi, the organization that has helped purchase critical vaccines for children in developing countries, saving millions of lives over the past quarter century, and to significantly scale back support for efforts to combat malaria, one of the biggest killers globally.
The administration has decided to continue some key grants for medications to treat H.I.V. and tuberculosis, and food aid to countries facing civil wars and natural disasters.
Jerome Delay, Associated Press file
The Trump administration plans to end U.S. funding for Gavi, a global program that purchases shots to help vaccinate children in developing countries against some of the world’s deadliest diseases.
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate more than half of the world’s children. Since its launch in 2000, the program has helped more than 1.1 billion children.
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