UK: World leaders make historic commitments to provide equal access to vaccines for all

London: The Global Vaccine Summit, hosted by the United Kingdom (UK) has raised US$ 8.8 billion from 32 donor governments and 12 foundations, corporations and organisations to immunise 300 million children and support the global fight against COVID-19.

According a press statement issued here on Thursday by the Global Vaccine Allaiance (GAVI), US$ 567 million also raised for new innovative financing instrument to provide access to COVID-19 vaccines for low- and middle-income countries.
Speaking on the occasion British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said, “Together we rise to fulfill the greatest shared endeavour of our lifetime – the triumph of humanity over disease, now and for the generations that follow.”

During the Summit, the World leaders have pledged an additional US$ 8.8 billion for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, far exceeding the target of US$ 7.4 billion.
The funding will help immunise 300 million more children in the world’s poorest countries against diseases like measles, polio and diphtheria by the end of 2025. It will also support health systems to withstand the impact of coronavirus and maintain the infrastructure necessary to roll out a future COVID-19 vaccine on a global scale, the statement said.
It added that the pledges were made at the Global Vaccine Summit 2020, hosted by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Representatives from 52 countries, including 35 Heads of State, joined leaders from global health organisations, the private sector,vaccine manufacturers and civil society organisations to support the Vaccine Alliance’s work protecting almost half the world’s children against deadly, preventable infectious diseases, it added.

The statement further said that Gavi, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF have warned that 80 million children under the age of one are at risk of disease due to disruptions to vital immunisation programmes because of COVID-19.
The statement further said that the UK remains the Vaccine Alliance’s largest donor, pledging the equivalent of £330 million per year over the next five years.

Other top donors include the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Norway, Germany and the United States,the statement said.

It added that eight countries made their first ever pledge to Gavi, including Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Finland, Greece, New Zealand, Portugal and Uganda.

The statement further said that as well as supporting the routine vaccination of hundreds of millions of children in lower-income countries from infectious diseases, the new support will also be used to help lower-income countries meet the challenge of the coronavirus pandemic by strengthening health systems and vaccine distribution.

“Britain has been honoured to host this summit today,” said Boris Johnson, UK Prime Minister. “You can count on our full contribution as together we rise to fulfill 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”, he remarked.

“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 privatesectors 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.”
Over the next five years, we will also see the largest investment in immunisation ever made by lower-income countries.

Gavi-supported countries will contribute US$ 3.6 billion towards the cost of buying vaccines – more than double the amount for the 2016-2020 period and more than 40% of the total estimated cost of supplying vaccines to these countries, the statement said.

They are also expected to invest around US$ 6 billion in immunisation service delivery costs over the same period.

The dire economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic may, however, disrupt these estimates.
Gavi’s market-shaping efforts to make life-saving vaccines more affordable have seen a 21% price reduction for fully immunising a child with pentavalent, pneumococcal and rota-virus vaccines – from $20.01 in 2015 to $15.90 in 2018.
“COVID-19 is a brutal reminder of why we must prioritize health,” said Roch Marc Christian Kaboré, President of Burkina Faso told the Summit.

“But if we fail to maintain the achievements we have made in vaccination, we risk the resurgence of deadly diseases like measles, yellow fever and polio. By working together to ensure the survival and prosperity of the people of Burkina Faso of Africa and of the world, we will together write the most magnificent pages in our common history”, he remarked.

Included in the total figure is US$ 0.9 billion in long-term pledges made to the innovative International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm), which will be used when needed to raise immediate funds on the capital markets.

“As the world battles against coronavirus, today’s UK-hosted Global Vaccine Summit has been a superb example of what we can achieve when we all take action together,” said Anne-Marie Trevelyan, UK International Development Secretary .
“We know vaccines work, and I’m incredibly proud that we’ve exceeded Gavi’s pledging target to help protect 300 million more children from deadly illnesses through routine immunisation.
This will help stop the spread of infection around the world, now, and in the future.”

The world’s biggest vaccine manufacturers also committed to continue supplying the billions of doses needed to continue increasing vaccine coverage across Africa and Asia.

The Vaccine Alliance is one of the world’s largest and most successful public-private partnerships, and the wider private sector continued to show support for its mission with the announcement of more than US$ 70 million of new pledges and partnerships, bringing new technology, networks and expertise to help solve some of global health’s most intractable problems.

“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,” Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Gavi Board Chair told the Summit.

“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.”

The Global Vaccine Summit also saw the launch of the Advance Market Commitment for COVID-19 Vaccines (Covax AMC), a new innovative financing instrument to provide access to COVID-19 vaccines for low- and middle-income countries.

This is the first building block towards a global mechanism to ensure equitable access to future COVID-19 vaccines. US$ 567 million was raised today in initial seed money for the AMC from 12 donors.

“As we celebrate a historic day we must also turn towards our next challenge: ensuring universal access to COVID-19 vaccines,” said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
“One thing that has been made all too clear over the past few months is that this disease does not respect borders, which is why this global problem requires a global solution.

After today’s success, we now need support to help ensure the most vulnerable people in low- and middle-income countries – as well as those in high- and upper middle-income countries – have access to COVID-19 vaccines.”