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

Any cut in UK funding to a global vaccination group would damage soft power and could make British 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…