By Ojoma Akor
World leaders have pledged support for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, leading to a total of more than US$ 9 billion secured against a targeted US$ 11.9 billion budget for its next five-year strategic period from 2026 to 2030 (Gavi 6.0).
A statement from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance said they made the pledge during the Global Summit: Health and Prosperity through Immunisation in Brussels.
Additional donor commitments are expected in the coming months.
The Summit also resulted in US$ 4.5 billion in complementary financing unlocked from development finance institutions, up to US$ 200 million in cost savings for Gavi-supported programmes announced by vaccine manufacturers – alongside other innovation and supply commitments that will further boost equitable access to critical vaccines, and a range of private sector partnerships aimed at transforming immunisation systems in lower-income countries – including a US$ 40 million anchor commitment towards a new Innovation Scale-Up Fund.
The statement said the commitments bring Gavi a major step closer to securing the resources it needs for Gavi 6.0, in which it hopes to protect 500 million children from preventable disease, averting between 8-9 million future deaths, protecting the world from deadly outbreaks of diseases such as cholera, mpox and Ebola through its vaccine stockpiles and unlocking US$ 100 billion in economic benefits for countries.
The Summit, co-hosted by the European Union, Gates Foundation, and Gavi, in partnership with Global Citizen, was attended by representatives of 55 donor and implementing countries – including 10 heads of state and government and 24 ministers – as well as leaders from multilateral institutions, civil society, private sector and vaccine industry. Co-hosts the European Union and the Gates Foundation reaffirmed their leadership in global health by making strong commitments to Gavi.
Also, the Gates Foundation announced a commitment of US$ 1.6 billion, underscoring its enduring partnership in Gavi’s efforts to ensure child survival.
The European Commission pledged EUR 360 million, as part of a total pledge of more than EUR 2 billion from Team Europe – which includes the EU and its Member States – collectively the largest donor to Gavi.
At the Summit, the European Investment Bank (EIB) announced an extension of its EUR 1 billion liquidity facility that can be accessed by any donor to facilitate their pledge, while Team Europe has already pledged nearly EUR 800 million for Gavi’s African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA) to support local vaccine manufacturing.
