A bipartisan group of six senior senators from the Senate Appropriations Committee is calling on Secretary of State Marco Rubio to release $600 million in U.S. funding for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, that the Trump administration has withheld despite congressional approval. The letter, sent on May 4, 2026, marks one of the most significant bipartisan pushbacks yet against the administration’s reshaping of federal global health priorities.
The funding, which Congress appropriated at $300 million for each of fiscal years 2025 and 2026, will expire on September 30 if the State Department does not release it. The push pits a coalition of senior Republican and Democratic appropriators against an administration whose top health officials have publicly questioned Gavi’s vaccine practices.
Who Signed the Letter
The letter was led by Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Susan Collins (R-Maine) and Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-Washington). It was co-signed by Senate Foreign Relations Committee Ranking Member Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire), Senator Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), State-Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii), and Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska).
The signatories represent three Republicans and three Democrats, an unusual show of cross-aisle alignment on a matter of administration policy. Each senator holds a senior position on the appropriations committee responsible for funding the State Department and U.S. foreign assistance programs.
What the Senators Are Demanding
“We question why the Department of State has not used $600 million appropriated in fiscal years 2025 and 2026 ($300 million each fiscal year) to replenish the U.S. Government’s pledge to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance,” the senators wrote in their letter to Rubio.
The lawmakers framed Gavi’s work as both a public health and a national security priority, writing that the alliance “plays a critical role in averting the spread of preventable diseases around the globe and helps protect public health in our country by stopping outbreaks before they reach our borders.”
Since its founding in 2000, Gavi has immunized more than 1.1 billion children worldwide and prevented an estimated 20.6 million deaths, according to figures cited in the letter. The senators also emphasized that Gavi acts as a major customer for U.S. industry, purchasing more than $12.5 billion in U.S.-manufactured goods and vaccines, and serving as the world’s leading purchaser of U.S.-produced vaccines. The alliance also hosts the U.S.-founded global vaccine stockpile, and vaccines distributed through Gavi are approved through the same standards used by the Food and Drug Administration.
Why the Administration Has Held the Funds
The State Department has not publicly explained why the funds remain unspent, beyond confirming the freeze. “The Trump Administration has made its position on Gavi clear,” a State Department spokesperson told CIDRAP News when asked about the withheld funding.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been more direct in his criticism. According to The Hill, Kennedy told Senator Shaheen during a recent Senate Appropriations Committee hearing that “Gavi has been intransigent.” Kennedy raised concerns about a diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis vaccine that Gavi distributes, claiming it is a version the U.S. discontinued in 1997 due to safety concerns. The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and a long line of subsequent studies have not confirmed those claims, and the original 1976 British study cited by Kennedy was contradicted by follow-up research.
A Department of Health and Human Services spokesperson said in a statement that “the United States is calling on Gavi to address these issues and strengthen public trust; until then, U.S. financial contributions will remain paused.”
What’s at Stake Globally
Gavi replenishes its funding in five-year cycles. At its most recent summit, the alliance secured pledges of $9 billion from donor governments, philanthropic organizations, and individuals for the 2026-2030 funding period, falling short of its $11.9 billion target.
The Center for Global Development estimates that U.S. support for Gavi, alongside other bilateral funding for global vaccine efforts, saves more than 500,000 lives each year. Leah Rosenzweig, a senior fellow at the center, told CIDRAP News that vaccines are “among the most impactful health innovations ever developed,” and that weakening Gavi “would mean fewer children reached and more preventable disease.”
Among Gavi’s strategic goals for 2026-2030 is reducing the number of children aged 1 to 5 around the world who have received no vaccine doses, and helping countries reach under-vaccinated populations. The alliance also continues to graduate higher-income countries off Gavi support, with 19 countries having fully transitioned to self-funding their childhood immunization programs.
If the State Department does not release the appropriated funds before September 30, the money will expire and effectively become unavailable for Gavi’s mission. The bipartisan letter sets up a public test of whether congressional appropriators can move administration policy on a withheld foreign assistance program before the deadline.
For the senators leading the effort, the appeal is grounded in a long-standing congressional consensus on Gavi’s effectiveness. For the administration, the standoff reflects a broader debate about the future direction of U.S. global health policy under the Trump-era America First Global Health Strategy.
