Vaccine group Gavi seeks US$9b to immunise world’s poorest children

Nevin Al Sukari - Sana'a - Gavi helps low-income countries buy vaccines to protect against killer diseases. Around one billion children have been immunised as a result of Gavi’s work since 2020. — Reuters file pic

LONDON, June 20 — The global vaccine organisation Gavi wants US$9 billion (RM42.4 billion) from governments and foundations to fund immunisation efforts in the world’s poorest countries over five years, it said today.

The amount was finalised at a meeting in Paris, where donors also began announcing commitments for the organisation’s plan for 2026-2030. Gavi said it had already raised US$2.4 billion of the total with months more fundraising to go, including US$1.58 billion from the United States.

A separately funded US$1.2 billion scheme to boost vaccine production in Africa, the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator, also launched.

Gavi helps low-income countries buy vaccines to protect against killer diseases. Around one billion children have been immunised as a result of Gavi’s work since 2020.

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Gavi Chief Executive Sania Nishtar said the group aims to move more quickly and offer more vaccines. This will include expanding a malaria vaccine roll-out, which began in Cameroon this year, as well as catching up on routine programmes for diseases like measles, which were set back by the Covid-19 pandemic.

The global vaccine alliance wants to reach “the highest number of children, covering them against the widest number of diseases ... in the shortest possible time,” Nishtar told Reuters in an interview on Wednesday, ahead of the meeting.

The organisation wants to reach 500 million children in the next five years, including 50 million children with the malaria vaccine.

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Gavi board documents had suggested the alliance needs up to US$11.9 billion for its work from 2026 on. The remaining money will come from leftover Covid-19 financing and some financial instruments the organization has in place, Nishtar said, although she acknowledged it was a very challenging time for global health, with aid budgets stretched worldwide by demands from conflicts to climate change.

“Gavi has never had to make trade-offs,” she said. “On the one hand, there is a wide portfolio of vaccines available. On the other hand, we’re looking at an environment where donors are resource constrained.”

But she said she was cautiously optimistic that the organisation would raise the amount needed.

Gavi also plans to further expand its work in the coming years, for example by setting up an mpox vaccine stockpile. It is also likely to add a dengue vaccine to its programme as climate change puts more countries at risk of outbreaks. It will also establish a “day zero” US$500 million pandemic response fund for quick action on major outbreaks. — Reuters