(By Mariam Ileyemi, Zainab Adewale and Fortune Eromonsele)
Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has warned that growing vaccine scepticism and misinformation are fuelling preventable child deaths globally, particularly in poor countries.
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Speaking during a panel at the 2025 Goalkeepers event in New York on Tuesday, Mr Gates raised concerns about the impact of misinformation surrounding vaccines.
“It is tragic that we see this vaccine scepticism because when poor countries hear that, it spreads there as well,” he said.
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“The chance of a child dying from measles is about 30 per cent in poor countries versus one per cent in rich countries. That scepticism, which is not well-founded, will have caused more deaths outside the country than inside.”
Mr Gates explained that vaccines have been the most significant driver of progress in reducing childhood deaths over the past five decades.
Mr Gates, chair of the Gates Foundation, linked the dramatic fall in global child mortality over the past two decades to vaccine access, but warned that progress is now threatened.
“Well, obviously, I have been very involved with vaccines. And the biggest single reason why childhood deaths went from 10 million down to five million is because of the availability of new vaccines,” he said.
“There were really three, one called pentavalent, one called rotavirus for diarrhoea, and one called pneumococcus for pneumonia. And those have been made available to all the world’s children.”
According to him, the cost of vaccines has been reduced “very dramatically,” making room for new ones for conditions such as respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and human papillomavirus (HPV), which prevent cervical cancer.
“We have a great pipeline of vaccines coming,” he said.
Decades of progress at risk
A recent study published in The Lancet in June 2025 highlighted these concerns.
While it found that routine vaccines have prevented about 154 million child deaths over the past five decades, it warned that slowing immunisation efforts, coupled with the spread of misinformation, could reverse hard-won progress and lead to unnecessary illness and deaths.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has also stated that immunisation efforts are under growing threat, as misinformation, humanitarian crises, population growth, and funding cuts jeopardise routine vaccination programmes.
US urged to sustain funding
On Monday, Mr Gates announced a new $912 million pledge by his foundation to the Global Fund and urged the United States to sustain its leadership in financing HIV, malaria and tuberculosis programmes.
“The United States has historically provided one-third of the Global Fund’s total resources, largely through bipartisan support for PEPFAR and other health initiatives,” he said.
“But he cautioned that as Washington debates its 2025 budget, “more than half of already-approved funds remain unspent.”
“I’m optimistic that Congress will remain generous on these global health programmes,” he added, warning that cutting back now would jeopardise decades of progress against HIV, malaria and tuberculosis.
Faith leaders call for child protection
Two prominent faith leaders, the Emir of Kano, Muhammad Sanusi II, and American pastor Rick Warren, also spoke at the event, stressing the moral urgency of protecting children from preventable deaths.
Mr Sanusi described children as “the greatest trust placed in the hands of leaders” and said protecting them should be paramount.
He recalled meeting a woman in 2017 who lost her child in her arms because she could not afford medication worth five dollars.
“That child could have been anyone’s child. The only way such societies survive is when those who have help those who do not have,” he said, adding that wealth must be seen as a divine test with gratitude expressed through generosity.
Mr Warren described the five million preventable child deaths recorded this year as both a humanitarian and moral crisis.
Drawing from his personal tragedy of losing a son to mental illness, he said, “I can’t imagine five million mothers and five million fathers grieving over their children this year who should not have died. That is a moral imperative.”
He urged stronger collaboration between governments, businesses and faith groups. “What none of us can do by ourselves, all of us can do together,” he said.
Gates highlights AI opportunities
Mr Gates also discussed artificial intelligence, which he described as “the biggest technological revolution” of his lifetime.
He said the Gates Foundation is focusing on applying AI to speed up medical discoveries, provide health advice in local languages via mobile phones, offer small farmers in Africa real-time agricultural guidance, and expand access to education.
“For my work at the Gates Foundation, we have four dreams about AI. One is to use AI to discover new health tools faster than ever. The second is that if you are in a low-income country and you have a cell phone, in your native language, you should be able to talk to a virtual doctor and get advice,” he said.
He added that African farmers could soon have access to agricultural guidance “superior to what the richest farmers get today in Europe or the US”
Spain recognised for global health role
The Goalkeepers event also honoured Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez with the Global Goalkeeper Award for his country’s renewed commitment to global health at a time when many donor countries are scaling back.
Presenting the award, Mr Gates said Spain had become “one of the most engaged donor countries in the world” under Mr Sanchez’s leadership.
He noted that Spain had pledged to raise its development aid to 0.7 per cent of GDP by 2030 and had more than doubled its contributions to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, since 2021, while also increasing funding to the Global Fund.
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Mr Sanchez said Spain’s approach to global health was driven by “conviction and pragmatism,” recalling lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There’s a wrong message from Western countries that we should increase defence expenditure while reducing aid. Security is also about how we face climate change and global health,” he said.
He also used the platform to push for Palestinian statehood, saying Israel’s war in Gaza had created a humanitarian tragedy.
“The same values we defend in Ukraine are the same values we should defend in Palestine. I believe Israel today is less secure and more isolated than before the war,” he said.
Other Goalkeepers Champions honoured for their contributions to advancing child health included Nigerian actress Osas Ighodaro, recognised for her malaria advocacy, and campaigners such as Abhay Bang and Rani Bang of India, David Beckham of the United Kingdom, Krystal Mwesiga Birungi of Uganda, Toni Garrn of Germany, John Green of the United States, Donald Kaberuka of Rwanda, Jerop Limo of Kenya, Reem Al-Hashimy of the United Arab Emirates, and Naveen Thacker of India.
