• The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) has announced a commitment of US$ 1.16 billion in funding for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance for fiscal years 2020 to 2023
• Gavi aims to immunise 300 million additional children, saving more than 7 million lives
• Dr Seth Berkley: Gavi advances sustained country ownership and strengthens global health security

Washington, DC, 10 February 2020 – Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, welcomes the US Administration’s announcement to commit US$ 1.16 billion to the Alliance for the fiscal years 2020 to 2023, exceeding its previous pledge in 2015. The commitment appeared in the President’s Fiscal Year 2021 budget request today and is subject to Congressional approval.

“This announcement is an important vote of confidence for Gavi’s mission and model,” said Dr Seth Berkley, Gavi’s CEO. “It will go a long way to help us build on our successful efforts over the last 20 years to provide the poorest, most vulnerable children in the world with the essential vaccines they need to survive and thrive. US support will also allow us to continue helping countries take ownership of their immunisation systems and sustain them in the future, which is central to Gavi’s model.”  

In June 2020, the United Kingdom will host Gavi’s third donor pledging conference, where leaders from around the world will announce their contributions for the Alliance’s 2021 to 2025 strategic cycle, aiming to reach at least US$ 7.4 billion in total. In addition developing countries are set to pay US$ 3.6 billion towards their own vaccine programmes during the 2021 to 2025 period, as well as over US$ 6 billion in immunisation service delivery costs, making it their largest investment in immunisation in history.

This support will make it possible for the Alliance to immunise an additional 300 million people during this period, saving more than 7 million lives. In addition to the 760 million additional children immunised since Gavi’s launch in 2000 and the estimated 13 million deaths averted, the organisation is on track to vaccinate more than 1 billion children by the end of 2025.

“Immunisation is among the most cost-effective ways to save lives, improve health and ensure long-term prosperity in developing countries, and it makes the world less vulnerable to large-scale disease outbreaks that can cross borders rapidly and threaten the entire world,” Berkley added. “That’s why investment in Gavi from donors like the United States is so critical to global health security.”

Gavi also urges Congress to continue its strong commitment to fund other critical global health and development needs, including maternal and child health programs. US leadership on global health has helped bring about extraordinary progress in recent decades and the US must continue to build on that momentum in the years to come. Working together, the United States and Gavi can help protect children from vaccine-preventable diseases and make the world a safer and healthier place.

Notes to editors

About Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunise a whole generation – over 760 million children – and prevented more than 13 million deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 73 developing countries. Gavi also plays a key role in improving global health security by supporting health systems as well as funding global stockpiles for Ebola, cholera, meningitis and yellow fever vaccines. After two decades of progress, Gavi is now focused on protecting the next generation and reaching the unvaccinated children still being left behind, employing innovative finance and the latest technology – from drones to biometrics – to save millions more lives, prevent outbreaks before they can spread and help countries on the road to self-sufficiency. Learn more at www.gavi.org and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

The Vaccine Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners. View the full list of donor governments and other leading organizations that fund Gavi’s work here.

Media contacts

		James Fulker (Geneva) Gavi +41 79 429 5505 +41 22 909 2926

		Jeff Weintraub (US) Gavi +1-202-403-7695