At
Beyond the Noise Paul Offit wrote, "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.”
He went on to say, "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...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."