The Donald Trump administration plans to cut funding for GAVI, a global health organization with the goal of increasing vaccine access in developing countries, The New York Times (NYT) reported.
The decision was included in a 281-page spreadsheet that the United States Agency for International Development sent to Congress on Monday night, according to The NYT, which obtained a copy of the spreadsheet.
The spreadsheet listed international aid programs that will be dismantled by the Trump administration as well as those to be retained.
“The documents provide a sweeping overview of the extraordinary scale of the administration's retreat from a half-century-long effort to present the United States to the developing world as a compassionate ally and to lead the fight against infectious diseases that kill millions of people annually,” read the NYT report.
A State Department spokesperson confirmed that the terminations on the list were accurate and said that "each award terminated was reviewed individually for alignment with agency and administration priorities, and terminations were executed where Secretary (Marco) Rubio determined the award was inconsistent with the national interest or agency policy priorities," read the report.
Since its inception in 2000, GAVI has helped vaccinate more than 1.1 billion children in 78 countries, preventing over 18.8 million future deaths.
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