RFK Jr’s War on the World’s Children

RFK Jr. has just withdrawn any future U.S. support from a program that has saved more than 20 million lives in resource-poor countries

In 2024, the Biden administration pledged $1.6 billion to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI) over the next 5 years. The US government has long been a major financial supporter of GAVI, contributing more than $8 billion since 2001. Since its inception in 2000, GAVI has vaccinated about 1.2 billion children worldwide, saving an estimated 20 million lives, specifically in resource-poor countries. GAVI’s efforts have halved the childhood mortality rate in 78 countries representing about 50 percent of the world’s children.

On June 25, 2025, RFK Jr. cut off U.S. funding to the Global Alliance Vaccine Initiative (GAVI). In a pre-recorded interview sent to GAVI officials, RFK Jr. said, “In its zeal to promote universal vaccination, it has neglected the key issue of vaccine safety.” To prove it, RFK Jr. held up a methodologically flawed study done in Guinea-Bissau, West Africa, that showed an increase in female mortality following receipt of the diphtheria-tetanus-pertussis (DTP) vaccine. Other studies, including a study done by these same investigators, failed to reproduce this finding. In other words, based on a flawed, irreproducible study, RFK Jr. put thousands of children at risk. “Of all the global health programs that have been cut,” said Dr. Atul Gawande, who has overseen global health for the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), “this will likely mean more deaths than any other.”

Apparently, RFK Jr.’s war against the world’s children isn’t over.

On January 28, 2026, RFK Jr. said that he would cancel all future support for GAVI until they phased out the use of vaccines containing the ethyl-mercury preservative, thimerosal. Preservatives, which have been used in vaccines since the 1930s, are contained in multi-dose vials to prevent bacterial contamination. Ten studies have shown that children who received thimerosal-containing vaccines were not at greater risk of neurodevelopmental problems, including autism, than those who received thimerosal-free vaccines. Again, RFK Jr. has raised a false flag refuted by scientific studies to deny children vaccines that will save their lives.

RFK Jr.’s request to GAVI to remove thimerosal from all childhood vaccines—which would mean eliminating multi-dose vials—isn’t trivial. Multi-dose vials are particularly important for resource-poor countries because they cost less and require simpler cold storage when refrigerated space is limited. RFK Jr.’s request would eliminate the $300 million requested by the Biden administration for GAVI and approved by Congress in 2024 as well as any future funding. About 14 percent of GAVI’s portfolio consists of vaccines that contain thimerosal.

RFK Jr.’s withdrawal of support for GAVI, apart from not being science-based, is a callous, cruel move that will likely result in the unnecessary deaths of children. We don’t know the names of those children now, but they have names.