OOPS Tim Kaine: Gates Foundation Risks 39,000 Kids Lives to Fund Study Claiming Trump Will Kill 200,000.
Sen. Tim Kaine Accidentally Exposes Gates Foundation Funding Paradox: How $279 Million in Research $ Could Cost 39,000 Children's Lives, Based on Study's Own Metrics
Senator Tim Kaine's X post from December 18, 2025, has sparked intense discussion about global health funding. In it, he warns that "200,000 children under five will needlessly die" because of "cruel cuts" to humanitarian aid under the Trump administration. In the video he attached, Kaine shares grim news: "The number of deaths of children under age five worldwide will rise this year by about 200,000, ending more than two decades of steady progress."
Kaine blames this on U.S.-driven cuts to global health aid and promises to fight to bring back the funding to save young lives. While Kaine sees this as an urgent call for help, it actually highlights a troubling irony in the study he references—a report backed by the Gates Foundation from the University of Washington's Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME). Using the study's own cost estimates, the foundation's $279 million, 10-year pledge to IHME could have saved about 39,000 children's lives if used for direct actions like simple treatments for diarrhea, mosquito nets, and medicines for common infections.
Even more shocking, the Gates Foundation has given over $1.56 billion to the University of Washington and its related groups from 2010 to 2019 alone—money that, by those same estimates, could have prevented more than 218,000 child deaths if spent on proven, on-the-ground help. Instead, this huge sum supports a research system filled with scandals, from changed study results to claims of biased science, possibly pulling money away from real aid and leading to preventable losses.
Breaking Down the Study's Numbers: A Recipe for Heartbreak
Without directly referencing the Trump administration, The Gates Foundation and IHME report predict that cuts to global health funding could cause 200,000 extra deaths in children under five in 2025. This outlook depends on how less money disrupts cheap, effective tools—like fluids for diarrhea, mosquito nets to stop malaria, and medicines for lung infections—that could prevent deaths for just a few dollars each. Data from similar studies, including from the World Health Organization, show that $1 billion spent wisely can prevent about 140,000 child deaths each year in poor countries.
Applying this to the $279 million from the Gates Foundation gives a disturbing number: it could save around 39,060 lives in one year if used directly in the field instead of for computer models. The math is simple—the cost to save one life is about $7,143—but it shows a big mistake in how the money is used. Looking at the full $1.56 billion given to UW and groups like IHME from 2010-2019, the possible impact jumps to about 218,000 children's lives saved each year under ideal use. Critics say IHME's focus on future predictions takes priority over quick help, especially since the foundation's past suggests studies might be shaped to push expensive agendas rather than low-cost options.
The University of Washington's Troubled History: Warning Signs in Research Honesty
The University of Washington (UW), which gets this large funding, faces questions about its part in doubtful studies linked to Gates goals. For example, the remdesivir study run by Helen Chu, who has ties to Gates, famously switched its main goal from death rates to "Time to Recovery." This change is often seen as a tricky way to hide bad results, damaging faith in the findings—especially when huge drug company profits are involved.
Since Chu’s study allowed Fauci to greenlight the drug, Remdesivir has repeatedly been implicated in Halt Hospital Homicide testimonials as directly related to the deaths of loved ones during the height of COVID.
This issue also shows up in the foundation's role in hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) research during the COVID-19 crisis. Emails from public records show Gates Foundation vaccine staff, like Peter Dull, responding to a University of Minnesota study by Dr. David Boulware that said HCQ didn't work. Dull wrote, "Now the fun begins." This comment came right after a fake study linked to Harvard scientists and a company named Surgisphere was pulled back on June 3, 2020, for wrongly claiming HCQ was harmful. It points to a careless view of treatments that could save lives. The foundation built a "closed and confidential" link between Boulware's team and the World Health Organization (WHO), giving $3.2 million to the university for COVID work soon after. Over 25 years, Gates has sent more than $412 million to Minnesota and linked schools, while putting $9 billion into vaccines—far more than the $100 million for COVID research.
Boulware's study had problems, like being done remotely with only 20% of cases confirmed by tests, but it was called "final proof" despite unclear outcomes. Reports didn't mention Gates connections, breaking rules on sharing conflicts of interest. As Dr. Sabine Hazan found, Gates reps watched HCQ studies but ignored good results, while media backed by Gates attacked critics. This "Bill chill" silences opposition and bends science to fit the foundation's aims.
Growing Pressure: Tax-Free Status in Danger
The Gates Foundation is facing tough checks, with its tax-free status in question. Whistleblower William S. Scott filed a case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida (Case 1:24-cv-24123-CMA), claiming the foundation promotes for-profit vaccines while pretending to be a charity. Scott says, "Under the cover of bettering world health, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation/Trust has pushed the making and selling of Covid-19 vaccines that weren't tested enough," calling its charity claims false. The IRS turned down his complaint without looking into it, leading to appeals.
Senator Chuck Grassley's investigations add to this, asking about gifts to Chinese government groups, like $55 million to BioNTech in 2019 for vaccines and money to state universities tied to military tech. Other debated gifts include $750 million to Gavi in 2000 (growing to $1.6 billion by 2020), $20 million to CEPI in 2020, and $89 million to Novavax in 2015. If it loses tax-free status, it could owe over $1.44 billion in taxes each year based on 2023's $6.8 billion income, like what happened to Blue Shield of California in 2015.
Around the world, Kenya's High Court paused the foundation's special protections in November 2024, and cases in the Netherlands are building. Conflicts include ex-FDA head Margaret Hamburg advising while her husband ran Renaissance Technologies, which paid a $7 billion IRS fine.
Gates' Fading Control on World Health During COVID Aftermath
Bill Gates' role in COVID-19 has drawn more criticism. The foundation guided policies by needlessly involving itself in studies surrounding HCQ and ivermectin, and promoting vaccines as the only way out. Gates said, "ONLY a vaccine would be allowed to get the world out of the global pandemic." But on August 27, 2025—just a day after Gates visited the White House—HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. canceled emergency approvals for COVID vaccines, stopping requirements and calling for proper tests with placebos. This step, during ongoing HHS probes and Gates cutting ties with some advisors, hints at his weakening hold on health rules.
The Real Human Price
By the study's numbers, $279 million could have saved 39,000 children's lives, and the $1.56 billion to UW could have stopped over 218,000 deaths if used for top interventions. But instead, it backs a research plan full of disputes and shady methods. With chances for money to be misused or wasted, plus the foundation's record of swaying results, the hoped-for benefits might never happen.
Think about it: hundreds of thousands of kids—each with their own story, loved ones, and dreams—could die because funds meant for their safety get caught in politics and science games. This isn't just numbers; it's a deep loss made worse by the group that says it's stopping it, now brought to light by Senator Tim Kaine's post.
Wrapping Up
Sparked by Senator Kaine's serious alert on X, the Gates Foundation's support for UW and IHME—meant to boost global health—ironically threatens the lives it wants to protect. The study's data shows a straightforward way to cut child deaths, but the foundation's moves—facing checks on taxes, tied up in COVID issues, and shaping doubtful research—weaken that chance. As we question the morals of worldwide health funding, questions remain: how many more kids will suffer for the foundation's tangled goals?
And how will the Trump team Gates seeks favor from respond to this astroturfed attack on the administration’s financial efforts to rein in an out of control budget?
Will The Gates Foundation’s tax-exempt non-profit status finally be evaluated by the IRS?