DeLauro Statement on the Trump Administration Finally Bowing to Pressure and Releasing Global Vaccine Aid Funding

WASHINGTON – House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT-03) issued the following statement after the State Department notified Congress of its intent to release $600 million in lawfully appropriated funding for Gavi, an international organization that supports children in developing nations with vaccine access.

“After continued advocacy from myself and my Democratic colleagues on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, these funds are finally being allowed to flow. It is utterly shameful that these resources were ever blocked in the first place, and children around the world were deprived of desperately needed vaccines for nearly two years.

“Gavi has helped to vaccinate over 1 billion children globally over the past 25 years, preventing more than 20 million deaths. The insertion of Secretary Kennedy’s senseless, selfish, and absurd crusade against vaccines is putting children in the United States and abroad at great risk. He must stop putting his own personal, ill-informed opinions above well-established scientific evidence before even more children get sick.”

Ranking Member DeLauro raised this issue during an Appropriations Committee meeting in late April.

###