Kennedy called on Gavi “to re-earn the public trust and to justify the $8 billion America has provided in funding since 2001,” saying officials must “consider the best science available, even when that science contradicts established paradigms.” Kennedy said until that happens, the U.S. won’t contribute further to Gavi.

Global vaccine group Gavi has secured $9 billion for its work over the next five years helping to immunize the world's poorest children, its board chair, Jose Manuel Barroso, said on Wednesday. The group announced the total at the end of a fundraising summit in Brussels.

The secretary of health and human services said that funding will be curtailed until Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, takes into account the science of vaccine safety in its campaigns.