Health

U.S. to End Vaccine Funds for Poor Countries

Published

1 year ago

March 26, 2025

U.S. to End Vaccine Funds for Poor Countries

The Trump administration intends to terminate the United States’ financial support for Gavi, the organization that has helped purchase critical vaccines for children in developing countries, saving millions of lives over the past quarter century, and to significantly scale back support for efforts to combat malaria, one of the biggest killers globally.

The administration has decided to continue some key grants for medications to treat H.I.V. and tuberculosis, and food aid to countries facing civil wars and natural disasters.

Those decisions are included in a 281-page spreadsheet that the United States Agency for International Development sent to Congress Monday night, listing the foreign aid projects it plans to continue and to terminate. The New York Times obtained a copy of the spreadsheet and other documents describing the plans.

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.

The cover letter details the skeletal remains of U.S.A.I.D. after the cuts, with most of its funding eliminated, and only 869 of more than 6,000 employees still on active duty.

In all, the administration has decided to continue 898 U.S.A.I.D. awards and to end 5,341, the letter says. It says the remaining programs are worth up to $78 billion. But only $8.3 billion of that is unobligated funds — money still available to disburse. Because that amount covers awards that run several years into the future, the figure suggests a massive reduction in the $40 billion that U.S.A.I.D. used to spend annually.

A spokesperson for the State Department, which now runs what is left of U.S.A.I.D., confirmed 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 Rubio determined the award was inconsistent with the national interest or agency policy priorities.”

The memo to Congress presents the plan for foreign assistance as a unilateral decision. However because spending on individual health programs such as H.I.V. or vaccination is congressionally allocated, it is not clear that the administration has legal power to end those programs. This issue is currently being litigated in multiple court challenges.

Among the programs terminated is funding for the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, which conducts surveillance for diseases that can be transmitted from animals to humans, including bird flu, in 49 countries. Some major programs to track and fight malaria, one of the world’s top killers of children, have also been ended.

Dr. Austin Demby, the health minister of Sierra Leone, which relies on Gavi’s support to help purchase vaccines, said he was “shocked and perturbed” by the decision to terminate U.S. funding and warned that the ramifications would be felt worldwide.

“This is not just a bureaucratic decision, there are children’s lives at stake, global health security will be at stake,” he said. “Supporting Gavi in Sierra Leone is not just a Sierra Leone issue, it’s something the region, the world, benefits from.”

In addition to trying to reach all children with routine immunizations, Sierra Leone is currently battling an mpox outbreak, for which Gavi has provided both vaccines and critical support to deliver them, he said.

“We hope the U.S. government will continue to be the global leader it always been — putting money in Gavi is not an expenditure, it’s an investment,” Dr. Demby said

Gavi is estimated to have saved the lives of 19 million children since it was set up 25 years ago. The United States contributes 13 percent of its budget.

The terminated grant to Gavi was worth $2.6 billion through 2030. Gavi was counting on a pledge made last year by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. for its next funding cycle.

New vaccines with the promise to save millions of lives in low-income countries, such as one to protect children from severe malaria and another to protect teenage girls against the virus that causes cervical cancer, have recently become available, and Gavi was expanding the portfolio of support it could give those countries.

The loss of U.S. funds will set back the organization’s ability to continue to provide its basic range of services — such as immunization for measles and polio — to a growing population of children in the poorest countries, let alone expand to include new vaccines.

By Gavi’s own estimate, the loss of U.S. support may mean 75 million children do not receive routine vaccinations in the next five years, with more than 1.2 million children dying as a result.

The U.S. has been among the top donors to the organization since its creation, and became the largest during the Covid-19 pandemic. While European countries have historically provided significant funding, many are now reducing foreign aid spending as they grapple with the change in U.S. policy on Ukraine and the U.S. demand that they increase their defense spending. Japan, another major Gavi donor, is struggling with a depreciating currency.

Dr. Sania Nishtar, Gavi’s chief executive, said that she hoped the Trump administration would reconsider the decision to end its support. Gavi’s work keeps people everywhere, including Americans, safe, she said. In addition to protecting individual children, vaccination reduces the possibility of large outbreaks. The organization maintains global stockpiles for vaccines against diseases such as Ebola and cholera, deploying them in rapid response efforts for epidemics.

Gavi’s structure requires countries to pay part of the cost of vaccines, with their share growing as income levels rise; middle-income countries are weaned from support.

Although the administration has repeatedly said publicly that its foreign assistance review process has been concluded, the information in the documents suggests that there is still some fluidity in which programs will survive. Staff members of one major malaria program that was terminated weeks ago, and which appears on the list of canceled projects sent to Congress, for example, were informed on Monday that it is being restored.

Nevertheless, cuts to malaria response are deep. While awards that fund the bulk purchase of bednets and malaria treatments have been preserved, many of the programs to deliver these and other malaria control efforts in individual countries such as Cameroon and Tanzania — among the most affected in the world — have been terminated. Some organizations with awards that have not been officially canceled have received no funds for more than two months, and have folded. Without them, there is no one to take treatments from ports to local clinics, or deliver them to children.

The memo says that 869 U.S.A.I.D. personnel were working as of last Friday, while 3,848 were on administrative leave and 1,602 are in the process of being laid off. Of 300 probationary employees who were initially fired, 270 have returned to work following a court order prohibiting their dismissal.

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Health

Weight gain in certain decade of life may be more dangerous, study suggests

Published

38 minutes ago

April 14, 2026

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Weight gain in certain decade of life may be more dangerous, study suggests

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Weight management is often treated as a “middle-age” problem, but new research suggests that the pounds you pack on in your 20s may be the most dangerous of your life.

A massive study of more than 620,000 individuals found that the damage from early weight gain is disproportionately high and surprisingly permanent. According to the findings, the younger someone is when obesity sets in, the higher the risk of early mortality.

The study, published in the journal eClinicalMedicine, analyzed data from the Obesity and Disease Development Sweden project.

MEN FACE HIDDEN HEART RISK YEARS EARLIER THAN WOMEN, STUDY SUGGESTS

“The most consistent finding is that weight gain at a younger age is linked to a higher risk of premature death later in life, compared with people who gain less weight,” Tanja Stocks, a professor at Lund University and one of the researchers behind the study, said in a press release.

New research suggests that the pounds you pack on in your 20s may be the most dangerous of your life. (iStock)

Developing obesity between the ages of 17 and 29 was linked to a 70% higher risk of early death compared to weight gain later in life.

Weight gain later in adulthood, between ages 30 and 60, was also linked to higher death rates, but the connections were generally weaker.

HERE’S THE AGE WHEN STRENGTH AND FITNESS BEGIN FADING, LONG-TERM DATA SHOWS

“One possible explanation for why people with early obesity onset are at greater risk is their longer period exposed to the biological effects of excess weight,” Huyen Le, a doctoral student at Lund University and first author of the study, said in the release.

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When weight gain happens in the 20s, the blood vessels, liver and metabolic systems endure obesity-related strain for decades longer than someone who gains the same weight in their 50s, experts say.

Weight gain later in adulthood, between ages 30 and 60, was also linked to higher death rates, but the connections were generally weaker. (iStock)

The study identified type 2 diabetes as the leading cause of death associated with early-onset obesity. Other significant risks included high-blood pressure, liver cancer in men and uterine cancer in women.

To reach these conclusions, researchers tracked participants’ weight paths across adulthood over more than 50 years, focusing on three specific windows: ages 17 to 29, 30 to 44, and 45 to 60.

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Using a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher to define obesity, the team compared weight data against Sweden’s national death registry.

After adjusting for a variety of factors, including smoking habits and marital status, the trend showed that becoming obese later in life still carried risks, but the danger compounded the longer people stayed obese.

While type 2 diabetes is the leading risk, early-onset obesity is also tied to higher rates of high-blood pressure and specific cancers. (iStock)

While these findings highlight the “importance of early and sustained obesity prevention strategies,” the researchers noted that other factors come into play, and that increases in risk within a population can be difficult to interpret.

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“We shouldn’t get too hung up on exact risk figures,” Stocks said.

“They are rarely entirely accurate, as they are influenced, for example, by the factors taken into account in the study and the accuracy with which both risk factors and outcomes have been measured.”

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Because the study was conducted in Sweden, more research is needed to understand the effect of early-onset obesity in other populations, the team noted.

Khloe Quill is a lifestyle production assistant with Fox News Digital. She and the lifestyle team cover a range of story topics including food and drink, travel, and health.

Health

Best Healthy Foods for Weight Loss After 50, Including Cheese and Bread!

Published

12 hours ago

April 14, 2026

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Best Healthy Foods for Weight Loss After 50, Including Cheese and Bread!

Best Healthy Foods for Weight Loss and Fat Burn After 50

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Health

Popular weight-loss medications linked to hidden side effects, study finds

Published

13 hours ago

April 14, 2026

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Popular weight-loss medications linked to hidden side effects, study finds

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In a sweeping analysis of more than 400,000 Reddit posts, researchers have revealed some little-known GLP-1 side effects.

GLP-1 receptor agonists — such as semaglutide (Ozempic and Wegovy), and tirzepatide (Mounjaro and Zepbound) — have been most commonly associated with gastrointestinal side effects, such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and constipation.

A new study published in Nature Health, however, uncovered some overlooked effects.

SHOULD YOU MICRODOSE OZEMPIC? EXPERTS ARE SPLIT ON RISKS VS BENEFITS

University of Pennsylvania researchers used artificial intelligence to analyze more than five years of Reddit posts from more than 67,000 people taking the popular drugs for diabetes or weight loss.

While clinical trials are still the “gold standard,” the researchers noted that Reddit community feedback reflects a different population.

“People often use medications differently than they’re prescribed, so it’s also important to look at real-world usage, which can diverge from usage in a clinical trial,” lead researcher Neil Sehgal, a PhD student at the University of Pennsylvania, told Fox News Digital. “So there are many possible reasons we’re seeing signals that the trials may have missed.”

Overlooked effects

Nearly half of the users reported one or more side effects. The most common were nausea, vomiting and constipation, which aligned with what clinical trials found, according to Sehgal.

“We’re almost certainly capturing a skewed slice of the full picture.”

“We did notice a few side effects that have not previously been reported for these drugs,” he told Fox News Digital.

“For example, about 4% of users who described side effects reported menstrual irregularities. Other Redditors described unusual temperature-related symptoms, like chills or hot flashes.”

OBESITY EXPERT REVEALS THE BEST WAY TO DECIDE IF GLP-1S ARE RIGHT FOR YOU

Nearly 13% of users also experienced psychiatric symptoms, such as anxiety, depression and insomnia. More than 5% also complained of abdominal pain, acid reflux, headache and dizziness.

“Fatigue was also the second most commonly reported symptom overall, but has met relatively few reporting thresholds in existing trials,” Seghal noted. “This gap between what patients are self-reporting online and what gets captured in trials is really what motivated this whole line of work.”

Clinical context

Dr. Sue Decotiis, a New York City-based board-certified weight-loss physician, noted that many of the reported symptoms, such as disorientation and fatigue, are most likely due to dehydration and hypoglycemia (low blood sugar).

“People often use medications differently than they’re prescribed, so it’s also important to look at real-world usage, which can diverge from usage in a clinical trial,” the lead researcher said. (iStock)

“Patients should be carefully monitored using a structured protocol that ensures proper nutrition and adequate hydration, ideally under the direct supervision of a physician experienced in metabolism and weight loss,” Decotiis, who was not involved in the study, told Fox News Digital.

“Additionally, body composition analysis can help identify issues such as muscle loss, excessive water loss or insufficient fat loss.”

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A significant concern, according to the doctor, is that many individuals are accessing these medications through online platforms or without receiving appropriate medical care.

“In my experience treating thousands of patients with various GLP-1 medications, complications are rare and typically occur only when patients are noncompliant,” she added.

Study limitations

As the data came from Reddit users, who tend to be younger, primarily male and mostly based in the U.S., it may not represent everyone taking these medications, the researchers noted.

“In my experience treating thousands of patients with various GLP-1 medications, complications are rare and typically occur only when patients are noncompliant,” a weight-loss doctor shared. (iStock)

“And even within Reddit, the people who post about their side effects are probably not typical of everyone on the medication,” Sehgal said. “If you had a good experience, you’re less likely to be writing about it online. So we’re almost certainly capturing a skewed slice of the full picture.”

The researchers also noted that the study can’t prove the drug caused the reported symptoms.

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“To be clear, we can’t say for certain whether these drugs are causing menstrual irregularities,” Sehgal said. “Patients on Reddit aren’t going to self-report every symptom they have, and they may also report things that aren’t actually linked to the medications. So it’s important to treat this as hypothesis-generating signals and do more research.”

The researchers noted that the study can’t prove the drug caused the reported symptoms. (iStock)

The study also didn’t include GLP-1 dosage, duration of the medication and symptoms, or other health conditions the users experienced. There is also the chance that the AI tools misunderstood meanings or context, the researchers noted.

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The results must be confirmed with more rigorous research, Sehgal said. “That’s how we’ll get real answers about prevalence and causality, which social media data alone can’t provide.”

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“These are signals, not conclusions – but I do think it’s always worth talking to your doctor about anything unexpected you’re experiencing while on a new medication, even if you’re not sure if it’s related,” he advised. “So if something feels off, say something.”

Melissa Rudy is senior health editor and a member of the lifestyle team at Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to melissa.rudy@fox.com.