Industry and government pledge $8.8bn to global immunisation efforts

Governments, industry and charities have pledged an additional $8.8 billion for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, to help aid immunisation efforts around the world.  

The funding raised far exceeds the original target of $7.4 billion set out by Gavi.

The pledges were made at the Global Vaccine Summit 2020, which was hosted by UK prime minister Boris Johnson. The virtual summit was attended by representatives from 52 countries, as well as vaccine manufacturers, leaders of global health organisation and others from the private sector.

The funding will be used to reach Gavi’s target of immunising 300 million more children in the world’s poorest countries against diseases like measles and polio, by the end of 2025. The funding will also be put towards supporting health systems withstand the impact of Covid-19 and rolling out a future vaccine for the virus.

Warnings have recently been raised by Gavi, the World Health Organisation (WHO) and UNICEF that 80 million children under the age of one are at risk of disease due to disruptions to immunisation programmes because of Covid-19.

The UK has pledged to donate £330 million each year for the next five years, making it the largest funder of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.

The impact of combined global donations can be seen in the new report, Generation Gavi: Partnering to protect health through life-saving vaccines.  

Speaking at the Summit on 4 June, Boris Johnson said: “Britain has been honoured to host this summit today. “You can count on our full contribution as together we rise to fulfil the greatest shared endeavour of our lifetime - the triumph of humanity over disease, now and for the generations that follow. As we make the choice today to unite and forge a path of global co-operation, let us also renew our collective resolve to find the vaccine that can defeat coronavirus.”

“To beat the Covid-19 pandemic, the world needs more than breakthrough science. It needs breakthrough generosity. And that’s what we’re seeing today as leaders across the public and private sectors are stepping up to support Gavi – especially Prime Minister Johnson,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “When Covid-19 vaccines are ready, this funding and global coordination will ensure that people all over the world will be able to access them.”

The Summit also saw vaccine manufacturers make a number of pledges to help support efforts against Covid-19 and diseases including cancer. For instance, AstraZeneca signed up to the Gavi Advance Market Commitment (Gavi Covax AMC) - the organisation’s new financing initiative to incentivise manufacturers to produce sufficient quantities of eventual Covid-19 vaccines, and to ensure access for developing countries.

Under the agreement, AstraZeneca guaranteed 300 million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine it is developing with the University of Oxford.

More so, vaccine manufacturers MSD, GSK, Innovax, Serum Institute of India (SII) and Walvax pledged to increase the supply of HPV vaccine to lower income countries. Gavi estimates that the commitment could ensure up to 84 million girls in the poorest countries receive HPV vaccine in the next five years – potentially averting 1.4 million future cervical cancer deaths.  

“On behalf of the countless vaccinators, supply chain workers, programme managers and the many, many others that work tirelessly every day to ensure children in vulnerable countries continue to receive lifesaving vaccines – thank you,” said Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Gavi board chair. “We have made incredible progress over the past two decades improving vaccine coverage and reducing child mortality across Africa and Asia. This funding will give countries new hope that, despite the devastating impact of Covid-19, this progress can be sustained and built on. The Alliance will now get to work making this happen.”