Cuts to UK’s global vaccination funding would risk avoidable child deaths, experts warn

Any cut in UK funding to a global vaccination group would damage soft power and could make Britain less resilient to infectious diseases, as well as causing avoidable deaths among children, leading vaccine and aid experts have warned.

Scientists including Sir Andrew Pollard, who led the development of the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine, said a major cut in money for the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (Gavi) could also make the UK less able to respond to a future pandemic.

The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) has not yet set out its future funding for Gavi, a Geneva-based public-private organisation that has vaccinated more than a billion children in developing countries.

The UK has previously been one of Gavi’s main funders, providing more than £2bn over the last four years. But with the UK aid budget cut back from 0.5% of gross national income to 0.3% and the focus shifting towards bilateral aid the expectation is that there will be a major reduction at Wednesday’s spending review.

Pollard, who leads the Oxford Vaccine Group, said that as well as continuing to save lives in poorer countries, there was a self-interested case for continuing with similar levels of support.

“It’s a safer place, obviously, for people who are in situations where they wouldn’t have been able to access these vaccines without the government support, but it also makes it a safe place for us, because it’s acting as part of the shield that we have against the spread of infectious diseases around the world,” he said.

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Source: The Guardian, 8 June 2025