Through routine immunisation programmes, preventive campaigns and emergency stockpiles, the Vaccine Alliance supports vaccines against 17 infectious diseases. By end 2020, Gavi had supported 521 routine introductions and campaigns, and funded more than 165.5 million vaccine doses through global stockpiles.

Penta: 5 antigens, 73 countries, >569m children

All Gavi-supported countries have successfully introduced the five-in-one pentavalent vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B and Haemophilus influenzae type b (Hib). By end 2020, more than 569 million children had been immunised with pentavalent vaccine with Gavi support.

>159m children vaccinated against rotavirus 

Our support has contributed to immunising more than 159 million children against rotavirus diarrhoea. By end 2020, 51 countries had introduced the vaccine with support from the Vaccine Alliance. For the third year in a row, Gavi-supported countries had higher rotavirus vaccine coverage than the rest of the world.

MenA vaccine campaigns: >332m people reached

By end 2020, more than 332 million people had been vaccinated against meningococcal meningitis A through Gavi-supported preventive mass campaigns, as well as through catch-up campaigns, in the African “meningitis belt”. In addition, more than 27 million were reached through routine immunisation. By end 2020, 11 out of the 26 countries in the belt had added the vaccine to their national schedules.

Meningococcal stockpile responds to outbreaks

Gavi funds a stockpile of multivalent vaccine to respond to outbreaks of meningococcal meningitis A, C, W and Y. From 2009 through 2020, the stockpile had been accessed 48 times by 13 countries, with over 22.6 million doses shipped. In 2020, Benin was the only country that applied to use the stockpile.

Typhoid vaccine launches

In 2019, Pakistan became the first country to introduce typhoid conjugate vaccine (TCV) into routine immunisation with Gavi support; by end 2020, more than 10 million children had been vaccinated in Sindh province – achieving a TCV coverage rate of more than 70%. In 2019, Gavi supported the first use of TCV in Africa for an outbreak response campaign in Harare, Zimbabwe, vaccinating over 318,000 people.

Groundbreaking strides against Ebola

More than 300,000 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had been protected against Ebola virus disease (EVD) with Gavi support by end 2020. In 2021, Gavi announced its support for a global emergency stockpile of 500,000 doses of Ebola vaccine to be made available to all countries for outbreak response.

>255m children vaccinated against pneumococcal disease

By end 2020, 60 countries had introduced pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) and immunised more than 255 million children against pneumococcal disease with Gavi support. For the third year in a row, PCV coverage in Gavi-supported countries remains slightly higher than the worldwide average.

>7.1³ girls reached with HPV vaccine

In 2020, three countries introduced human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine into their routine programme, of which one also introduced a multi-age cohort (MAC) vaccination. In total, 21 countries have successfully launched their HPV vaccine national programme with Gavi support, including 5 countries with MAC.

>117m vaccinated against measles

Since 2007, countries have immunised over
117 million children with a first and/or second dose of measles or measles-rubella (MR) vaccine through Gavi-supported routine immunisation programmes. Activities were heavily impacted by the pandemic: in 2020, only 1 routine introduction and 5 campaigns took place, compared with 32 activities in 2019.

Mass campaigns & RI to prevent yellow fever

Since 2011, Gavi-supported mass campaigns in 15 countries have reached more than 158 million people, while routine introductions in 17 countries have reached over 129 million people. The Gavi-supported yellow fever vaccine stockpile has saved countless lives; over 72 million doses have been shipped through the end of 2020.

Oral cholera vaccine stockpile: ~70m doses shipped

Since its creation in 2013 to support emergency response, humanitarian crises and preventive vaccination in countries with endemic cholera, the stockpile has been accessed 87 times by 22 countries, with approximately 70 million doses shipped by end 2020.

>20.5 million children vaccinated against JE

Although there were no new launches in 2020, by the end of the year more than 3.9 million children had been immunised against Japanese encephalitis through routine service deliveries. In addition, over 16.6 million had been reached through catch-up campaigns, resulting in more than 20.5 million children in total being vaccinated.

>224m children immunised against polio

Despite global supply shortages during the Gavi 4.0 strategic period, by April 2019 all 73 eligible countries had introduced one dose of inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) into their routine immunisation schedules.⁴ Overcoming challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, 6 countries (out of 17 expected) implemented IPV catch-up vaccination activities in 2020 – including Angola, which integrated bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV) outbreak response and measles-rubella National Immunization Days (NIDs).

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³ From available reported country data.

⁴ Two of the 73 countries introduced IPV independently of Gavi support.

After more than two decades of progress, Gavi is now focused on protecting the next generation, above all the “zero-dose” children who have not received even a single vaccine shot.

1.5 million people lose their lives to vaccine-preventable diseases every year

Over the past two decades, Gavi has helped protect a generation against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. However, 1.5 million people are still dying from vaccine-preventable diseases, while climate change, conflict and urbanisation are combining to make it easier for outbreaks to spread.

22.7 million under-immunised

22.7 million children worldwide miss out on basic vaccines. 78% of these children live in
Gavi-supported countries.

72% of children under 12 months miss out on one or more WHO-recommended vaccines

Only 28% of children in Gavi-supported countries receive the last recommended dose of each of the 11 antigens currently recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) for all infants worldwide by their first birthday.

13.7 million “zero-dose” children in Gavi-supported countries

In Gavi-supported countries, more than 20% of children are under-immunised – they have not received all three doses of the essential childhood vaccine containing DTP. Of this group, more than 75% are “zero-dose” children – they have not received even a single dose of DTP-containing vaccine. In Gavi-supported countries in 2020, there were 13.7 million zero-dose children – down from 18.9 million in 2000.

Focus on 20 priority countries

In Gavi’s 2016–2020 strategic period, we intensified our efforts in 20 priority countries. In 2020, seven of these countries – Afghanistan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Nigeria and Pakistan – accounted for the most “zero-dose” children in Gavi-supported countries, so improving their immunisation coverage is critical.

During 2016–2020, we also prioritised ten countries facing severe inequities or crises: Central African Republic, Haiti, Madagascar, Mozambique, Myanmar, Niger, Papua New Guinea, Somalia, South Sudan and Yemen.

Pneumonia and diarrhoea among leading causes of death in under-fives

Pneumonia and diarrhoea remain major killers of young children. Together, these diseases accounted for over 1.1 million deaths of children aged under five years in 2019.

Gender-related barriers can prevent children from being immunised

A WHO study found no significant difference in immunisation coverage rates for boys and girls at the global level. Yet in some countries and communities, gender discrimination means that boys have greater access to vaccines than do girls. In others, the opposite is true – girls have greater access. In societies where women have low status and therefore lack access to immunisation and other health services, both girls and boys are less likely to be immunised.

342,000 women died of cervical cancer in 2020

About 90% of these deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries. Human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine protects against the main causes of cervical cancer.

~100,000 babies born with birth defects due to rubella

Rubella is the leading vaccine-preventable cause of birth defects. It is estimated that every year approximately 100,000 babies are born with severe birth defects known as congenital rubella syndrome (CRS) because their mothers were infected with rubella during pregnancy – the vast majority in Gavi-supported countries. The combined measles-rubella vaccine, which Gavi supports, can prevent this devastating disease.

Cost of fully vaccinating a child against seven major diseases down 24% since 2015

By end 2020, the cost of fully immunising a child with pentavalent, pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines reached US$ 15.20. This represents a reduction of 24% relative to the 2015 baseline figure of US$ 20.01 and 2% drop from the previous year. 

Pentavalent price reduced 49% since 2015

The weighted average price per dose of the five-in-one pentavalent vaccine against diphtheria, tetanus, pertussis, hepatitis B and Hib dropped from US$ 1.68 in 2015 to US$ 0.86 in 2020.

Sufficient supply in 10 of 11 vaccine markets

By end 2020, 10 out of 11 vaccine markets were assessed as having sufficient and uninterrupted supply – up from 8 in 2019. Five markets were judged to have moderate health, up from three in 2019, as supply security for inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) and oral cholera vaccine (OCV) improved.

HPV vaccine: demand outpaces supply

Global demand for human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine continues to outpace available supply, despite manufacturing capacity expansion efforts of a major supplier to Gavi. Countries were unable to scale up as originally envisioned, with multi-age cohort (MAC) vaccination deferred until supply availability improves. This translated into more than 7.1 million  girls vaccinated by end 2020 compared to the original target of 40 million. In Gavi 5.0, Gavi’s fifth strategic period (2021–2025), we expect increased HPV vaccine supply from both existing and new manufacturers.

Celebrating close of Pneumococcal AMC with new lower price of US$ 2.00 per dose

Through the Pneumococcal Advance Market Commitment (AMC), which reached its conclusion on 31 December 2020, pneumococcal conjugate vaccines (PCV) are available to Gavi countries at a new lower price of US$ 2.00 per dose, with the entry of the first vaccine from a Developing Countries Vaccine Manufacturers Network (DCVMN) member, Serum Institute of India (SII). The impact of this ten-year supply agreement is estimated to yield US$ 50–100 million in additional savings for Gavi and Gavi countries.

Manufacturing base grown from 5 to 18 – more than half based in Africa, Asia, Latin America

In 2001, five vaccine manufacturers produced prequalified, appropriate Gavi vaccines, with only one based in Africa. In 2020, 18 vaccine manufacturers produced prequalified, appropriate Gavi vaccines, with 11 based in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

Innovation

In 2020, one additional vaccine product with improved characteristics was procured by UNICEF for Gavi-supported countries, bringing the Gavi 4.0 total to 11 since 2015 – exceeding our 2020 target of 10. These new products reflect Gavi’s continued efforts to procure products that offer countries more flexibility and help reduce cold chain footprint.

Accelerating impact

By end 2020, countries had immunised an additional 324 million children through routine systems with Gavi support during the 2016–2020 strategic period, meaning that, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, we exceeded our mission target of at least 300 million children.

Towards universal health coverage

In 2020, despite the COVID-19 pandemic, routine immunisation reached 83% of the world’s children. It is the only intervention that brings the vast majority of families into contact with the health system multiple times during the first year of a child’s life. If we expand this reach further, we have a solid platform for universal health coverage (UHC).

Vaccines prevent poverty

According to a study published in Health Affairs in 2018, vaccines administered between 2016 and 2030 will prevent 24 million people in 41 of the world's poorest countries from falling into poverty.

Source: Harvard University 2018

Our new strategic period: “Gavi 5.0” (2021–2025)

In June 2019, the Gavi Board approved a new five-year strategy with a vision of “Leaving no one behind with immunisation” and a mission to save lives and protect people’s health by increasing equitable and sustainable use of vaccines. Gavi 5.0 began on 1 January 2021.