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July  5, 2023UN NewsTwelve African countries will receive 18 million doses of the first-ever vaccine against malaria over the next two years, care of global vaccine alliance GAVI, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) announced on Wednesday. The RTS,S vaccine has been administered to more than 1.6 million children in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi since 2019 and has been shown to be safe and effective.It has resulted in a substantial reduction in severe malaria and a fall in child deaths. A top killer WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said malaria remains one of Africa’s deadliest diseases, killing nearly half a million children under the age of five every year, and accounting for approximately 96 per cent of global malaria deaths in 2021.“With the climate crisis changing weather patterns, mosquitoes that carry these diseases are increasing in density and spreading further afield,” said Tedros, speaking during his regular media briefing from Geneva.  Rollout in 2024  The initial 18 million dose allocation will enable nine more African countries to introduce the vaccine into their routine immunisation programmes for the first time.Those nations are Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Niger, Sierra Leone and Uganda.The first doses are expected to arrive during the last quarter of the year, with rollout set to start by early 2024. “This vaccine has the potential to be very impactful in the fight against malaria, and when broadly deployed alongside other interventions, it can prevent tens of thousands of future deaths every year,” said Thabani Maphosa, Managing Director of Country Programmes Delivery at Gavi, in a press release.The partners said at least 28 African countries have expressed interest in receiving the RTS,S vaccine, while a second malaria vaccine is currently under review for pre-qualification, and if successful provides additional supply in the short term. Concern for PalestineDuring his briefing, the WHO chief also expressed deep concern over the renewed violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territories in the past few days across the West Bank city of Jenin, which has left 12 people dead, hundreds injured, and thousands displaced. He said roads have been destroyed, which has made it difficult to reach those who have been wounded.“Across the occupied Palestinian territory, WHO has been using contingency funds for emergencies to train medical staff for mass casualty events and pre-positioning supplies to help health systems and health workers,” he told journalists.Tedros added that the UN agency also calls for a de-escalation of tension and for talks to maintain peace in the long-term, so that health systems can recover. 

June 13, 2023Health Policy WatchInternational vaccine alliance Gavi is on track to immunize 300 million more children by 2025 despite setbacks caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, it announced on Tuesday.“Despite the huge strain placed on countries’ health systems by the COVID-19 pandemic, we’re on or ahead of schedule on eight of the 11 key commitments that we made for the period 2021 to 2025. These include efforts to immunize a further 300 million children, prevent between seven to eight million future deaths, and unlock $80 to $100 million in economic benefits,” said Gavi CEO Dr Seth Berkley The alliance released its mid-term review report that tracks the progress of its goals for the 2021-2025 period. Every year Gavi provides vaccines to protect nearly half of all children on the planet. The report coincides with a meeting of world leaders in Spain’s capital of Madrid for the Global Vaccine Impact Conference, where they are discussing the lessons from the COVID-19 vaccine access platform, COVAX, which was co-led by Gavi.Improving Africa’s manufacturing capacity is a long-term goalIn the coming years, countries in Africa have pledged to improve vaccine manufacturing capacity as COVID-19 exposed their vulnerability. While Gavi expressed confidence in the continent’s ability to scale up, it tempered expectations by adding that this was likely to be a long-term process.“This is a long road. It is important to acknowledge that it takes time,” said Marie-Ange Saraka-Yao, Gavi’s Managing Director for Resource Mobilisation, Private Sector Partnerships and Innovative Finance. “A lot of pieces have come into play,” Gavi also said it is working to ensure there is enough advance procurement so that manufacturers can produce vaccines at scale while keeping the cost low.Neonatal deaths, weak malaria vaccines are challengesGavi flagged neonates’ deaths, the low efficacy of malaria vaccines and climate change as key challenges.While there has been considerable progress in reducing childhood deaths, deaths of neonates (babies in the first 28 days of life) remain high.“The RTS,S vaccine which is the first malaria vaccine, had an efficacy rate of 39%. Now that may sound low, but given how prevalent malaria is, for every 200 children vaccinated, you save one life. So, in terms of impact, this vaccine is really important,” Berkley said.Climate change is compounding challenges. As rainfall patterns change, droughts become more frequent and intense, and food insecurity is expected to rise.“In my country, where climate change and displacement are making it harder, not easier, to deliver health services – vaccines are an essential way to manage outbreaks and save lives,” said Dr Abdelmadjid Abderahim, Minister of Public Health and Prevention in Chad. Countries returning to pre-pandemic vaccinationWhile Gavi has presented an optimistic picture, a number of countries reported their post-pandemic struggles less optimistically at the recently concluded World Health Assembly weren’t so optimistic, including the re-emergence of polio cases in Pakistan and Afghanistan, after the pandemic disrupted routine vaccinations.Gavi said nearly 57 low- and middle-income countries are on track to return to pre-pandemic level of routine immunization. “According to the data we’re seeing from countries, we believe there are encouraging signs that resilient health systems in the now 57 Gavi implementing countries are having some success in recovering following the pandemic,” Berkley said.

Geneva, 13 April 2023reliefwebGavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi) has launched the Zero-Dose Learning Hub (ZDLH), a new mechanism to improve how data and evidence are leveraged to successfully identify and reach the millions of children who have not yet received a single routine vaccine shot – “zero-dose” children – and the missed communities in which they live. The goal of the ZDLH collaboration is to supplement existing and ongoing monitoring efforts by building deeper understanding and sharing learning on the complex array of factors that impact efforts to reach zero-dose children, particularly in lower-income Gavi implementing countries.Funded and coordinated by Gavi, ZDLH is composed of Country Learning Hubs in Bangladesh, Mali, Nigeria and Uganda, as well as a global hub led by JSI Research and Training Institute, Inc. (JSI), with support from the Indian Institute of Health Management Research (IIHMR) and The Geneva Learning Foundation (TGLF). The global hub will provide technical and operational support to countries; and disseminate learning across immunisation stakeholders at the community, national, regional and global levels.“Zero-dose children face significant and complex systemic barriers that impact their ability to access basic services, including immunisation,” said Thabani Maphosa, Managing Director of Country Programmes Delivery at Gavi. “Since the inception of our Alliance, Gavi has taken a data-driven approach to address immunisation challenges. This new investment will help inform and improve immunisation programmes to reach the most vulnerable children in urban slums, rural and hard-to-reach areas, and fragile and conflict settings – using tailored approaches and addressing gender-related barriers. Today’s new partnership is another important step in our mission to ensure no child misses out on life-saving vaccines, no matter where they live.”While incredible progress has been made in immunisation coverage, particularly in lower-income countries in the last few decades, it is clear that a percentage of children consistently miss out, with the pandemic hampering progress. The number of zero-dose children in Gavi implementing countries reduced by 14% from 2015 to 2019. However, this number increased during the pandemic; and in 2021, there were 12.5 million zero-dose children in the 57 lower-income countries supported by Gavi.As a result, during the 2021–2025 strategic period, Gavi and Alliance partners are focused on reaching zero-dose children and missed communities, aiming to leverage the power of innovation and new partnerships to reduce the number of zero-dose children in Gavi-eligible countries by 25% by 2025. Today’s ZLDH launch represents the latest initiative in this effort, alongside Gavi’s Zero-Dose Immunization Programme (ZIP), an innovative initiative that is providing two consortia of partners with up to US$ 100 million to identify and reach zero-dose children living in displaced communities and fragile and conflict settings.“JSI is uniquely positioned to lead the ZDLH and address the complex socio-cultural, political, geographic and economic root causes of under-immunisation. Our team will draw on years of successful implementation of innovative and finely tailored approaches to immunisation equity,” said Kate Onyejekwe, Director of JSI’s International Division. “We have convened a dynamic roster of partners to implement the ZDLH’s charge.”GENERATING KNOWLEDGE AT THE COUNTRY AND COMMUNITY LEVELSA country-driven and community-driven approach to evidence generation will be vital. The Country Learning Hubs – led by in-country partners and supported by Gavi, JSI and IIHMR – will first engage with government and other key stakeholders to identify country learning priorities. Once priorities are aligned, the hubs will begin work on strengthening routine information systems, and implementing research studies – with regular reporting of progress and results shared across the Alliance at the country and global levels. A Learning Innovation Unit will leverage digital peer networks to help accelerate at scale how national and subnational immunisation staff share, learn and apply evidence-based practices within and across Country Learning Hub countries, and at the regional and global levels.A populous country, Nigeria has one of the biggest zero-dose burdens globally, with more than 2.2 million children missing out on routine vaccines in 2021. However, there is increasing momentum and engagement at both the national and subnational levels to address this challenge. Bangladesh, Mali and Uganda made progress through 2020–2021, with the number of zero-dose children in all three countries declining, but obstacles remain: over 157,000 children were unprotected in Mali; nearly 50,000 in Uganda; and close to 30,000 children in Bangladesh.The four Country Learning Hubs – in Bangladesh, Mali, Nigeria and Uganda – will be led by a variety of organisations with specific in-country knowledge:

Feb 20, 2023The GauaridanMinister of Health, Dr Osagie Ehanire, has said that the appointment of the former Minister of State for Health, Prof Muhammad Ali Pate as the new Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of GAVI Vaccine Alliance, has improved and brightened Nigeria’s chances of commencing local production of vaccines.He said that Pate’s appointment was a validation of confidence the global community has on Nigerian health professionals “because entrusting such a position to Nigeria is also saying something about us”, he said.Speaking at a dinner organized by Friends of Prof Pate to celebrate his appointment as the new GAVI Chief Executive on Saturday evening in Abuja, the Minister, who noted that Nigeria wants to develop a strategy for vaccine production as a matter of urgency, called for a multi-focal approach to vaccine production as a matter of global health security.Ehanire stated that vaccine manufacturing is a global security, stressing that “we do not know what will happen in any place. But if you look at the impact of the Russia/ Ukraine war, a lot of fall out was observed even in faraway countries as grains, gasoline petroleum products became in short supply, showing that what happens in one remote place can affect others, and if you are producing vaccine in one part of the world if anything happens to that particular continent, the rest of the world will suffer.”Adding: “I had always advocated for a multi-focal approach to vaccine production as a matter of global health security issue. Apart from the Ministry of Health, many people here will recall the agony we suffered when the COVID-19 vaccines were first released.“Those who produced these vaccines were taking care of themselves without leaving any room for Africa and that was when the President declared vaccine manufacturing a national security item. we have been at that, preparing and working to indigenously have a vaccine production site“We have troubled NAFDAC until we got the WHO Maturity Level 3 which allows us to regulate vaccine manufacturing in Nigeria, and we are gunning for Maturity Level 4. So, with Prof Pate in charge of GAVI Vaccine Alliance, our chances are again improved to support the capacity to the manufacturing of vaccine.”The Minister urged Prof Pate to support Nigeria’s ambition to commence local production of vaccines.Ehanire, who described Pate’s appointment as well-deserved, said: “I received the news of the appointment of Prof Pate with great excitement. He is someone I have so much respect for and he deserves that position.“He is the first Nigerian and also the first African to hold that position. It was a validation because entrusting such a position to Nigeria is also saying something about us. Not long ago, we got very good news that we are getting to be in the good books of the Global Fund because not too long ago, they gave us a very generous grant, the largest grant they have ever given to any country. These are expressions of faith and confidence in all the processes that this country has put in place, and also a recognition of the new image of the country.“This is a very glorious appointment; we celebrate it. We have seen all the places Prof Pate has been to, the Expanded Programme on Immunization (EPI), the National Primary Healthcare Development Agency (NPHCDA), the Ministry of Health, the World Bank, Harvard University and now, the GAVI. That is a string of achievements.“Before then, he had his footprints at the Ahmadu Bello University and Balewa College. GAVI is lucky to have Prof Pate as its CEO, with his pedigree in almost every areas of public health. GAVI is very lucky to have you. We will support you, it is a declaration of more confidence in our country”, the Minister said.Also speaking, Minister of State for Health, Hon. Ekumankama Joseph Nkama said that Pate was appointed the Chief executive of GAVI based on his accomplishments, adding that Pate will make the nation proud in his new office.On his part, the Chairman of, the Senate Committee on Health, Senator Ibrahim Oloriegbe, stated that Prof Pate has the intellect, capacity and ability to achieve, adding that Nigeria has an opportunity to support the celebrant to succeed so that he can also support routine immunization and primary healthcare in the country.The Board of GAVI approved the appointment of Pate as the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Global Vaccine Alliance following an extensive recruitment process.He was selected following a year-long recruitment process personally overseen by the Chairman of the GAVI Board, Prof José Manuel Barroso. Pate is expected to resume the role on August 3, thereby replacing Dr Seth Berkley, who will be stepping down after 12 years.

Feb 13, 2023Gavi, the Vaccine AllianceGavi, the Vaccine Alliance announced today the appointment of Dr Muhammad Ali Pate as its new Chief Executive Officer. Dr Pate will be officially starting as CEO on 3 August 2023. A proven global health leader with experience at the national and international levels, Dr Pate will lead Gavi as it continues its work to support routine immunisation, outbreak response and COVID-19 vaccinations around the world.Dr Muhammad Ali Pate, who was selected following a yearlong recruitment process personally overseen by the Chair of the Gavi Board, Professor José Manuel Barroso, will bring a wealth of experience to the role. A medical doctor trained in both internal medicine and infectious diseases, with an MBA from Duke University in the United States, Dr Pate served as Nigeria’s Minister of State for Health between 2011 and 2013. In this role, he led a flagship initiative to revive routine vaccinations and primary health care, chaired a presidential taskforce to eradicate polio and introduced new vaccines into the country.While serving as Global Director for Health, Nutrition and Population of the World Bank and Director of the Global Financing Facility at the World Bank between 2019 and 2021, he led the Bank’s US$ 18 billion COVID-19 global health response and represented the Bank on various boards, including those of Gavi, the Global Fund, CEPI and UNAIDS. He is currently the Julio Frenk Professor of Public Health Leadership at Harvard Chan School of Public Health and has served on several health-focused boards and expert panels in the public, private and not-for-profit sectors during his career.Commenting on the appointment, Professor Barroso said: “Dr Muhammad Ali Pate stood out in a field of world-class candidates. With his knowledge and experience of both national immunization programming and international emergency response and global finance, I am confident that Gavi will continue to build on its vision and mission, as well as navigate the many challenges and opportunities we will face.”Dr Pate, whose appointment was confirmed today at an extraordinary meeting of the Gavi Board, said: “I’m deeply honoured to be joining Gavi as its incoming CEO. Gavi is one of the most impactful organisations in global health, a testament to the great work of the Alliance partners and Secretariat staff. It will be my privilege to lead it, building on the work of Dr Seth Berkley, and continue to support countries to scale up critical routine immunisation programmes, reach more zero-dose children, expand access to new vaccines, transform primary health care systems, and help fight outbreaks and future pandemics.”Sitting CEO Dr Seth Berkley has led Gavi for more than half of its existence, making it a centrepiece within the global health landscape, including recently co-establishing COVAX to serve countries during the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, having so far shipped nearly 1.9 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses to 146 countries. Since Dr Berkley took the helm in 2011, the Alliance has averted 11.8 million future deaths (compared to 4.5 million between 2000 and 2010); and has helped immunise more than 676 million children – more than double the 305 million children reached between 2000 and 2010.Thanks to Dr Berkley’s vision for health equity, Gavi has added a number of new vaccines to its portfolio during his tenure, including for HPV, polio, cholera and malaria, and in its current strategy cycle is focusing on reaching zero-dose children across marginalised communities. The Alliance also played an increasingly influential role in emergency response, developing vaccine stockpiles for diseases such as cholera and introducing innovative financing mechanisms to fund emergency purchase of Ebola and COVID-19 vaccines. The economic result of Gavi’s expansion of activities during his tenure has been profound, unlocking over US$ 160 billion of economic benefits compared to US$ 24 billion in its first ten years.Commenting on Dr Pate’s appointment, Dr Berkley said: “Leading Gavi and helping the Alliance to continually surpass itself in terms of saving lives, protecting children and supporting countries during global health emergencies has been the greatest honour of my career. I am proud and humbled to have been part of what the Alliance has achieved, and I am confident in its future under Muhammad’s leadership: having worked with him during his time as Minister and at the World Bank, I know he understands intimately the landscape we work in and will be uncompromising in his drive for public health equity.”Dr Berkley will continue to serve as CEO until 2 August 2023, while working with incoming CEO Dr Pate to ensure a smooth transition.

December 22, 2022UN NewsMillions of Afghan children have been vaccinated during the first nationwide integrated measles and polio campaign in Afghanistan since the Taliban took power in August 2021, the UN health agency said on Thursday.Afghanistan has vaccinated 5.36 million nine- to 59-month old children against measles while 6.1 million infants to 59-month-olds received oral polio vaccine during the vaccination drive held from 26 November to 12 December.Based on the data from Afghanistan’s Ministry of Public Health Expanded Programme on Immunization, the campaign covered 329 districts in all 34 provinces of the country – with 4,341 vaccination teams comprised of four members on each team.“It warms my heart that we were able to protect Afghan children from measles and polio as we enter the harsh winter season in the country”, said Luo Dapeng, the World Health Organization (WHO) Representative in Afghanistan.“I thank all the health workers, partners and donors who made this possible”.

December 9, 2022 GAVI NewsAfter two days of heavy discussion in Geneva, Switzerland, the Gavi Board has voted its approval of a bold suite of strategy decisions – a plan of action that prompted Chair of the Gavi Board José Manuel Barroso to hail 2023 as a \"Year of Renewal\".If that phrase rings with determined confidence, it might be because these last pandemic years have brought with them both hard-won successes and worrying setbacks.The Board agreed, in principle, to explore integrating the COVID-19 jabs into Gavi’s core programming. The aim here is to help lift the burden on country health programmes of running specialised emergency immunisation programmes, and move towards a sustainable new normal.In 2021, Gavi-supported countries delivered a larger volume of life-saving vaccines than ever before, with more than 65 million children reached with routine vaccines in addition to the more than two billion COVID-19 vaccines administered in Gavi-supported countries.And yet, in consequence of COVID-19\'s many disruptions, the world entered 2022 with millions more vaccine-unprotected \"zero-dose\" children than it had in 2019. Global coverage with three doses of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis-containing vaccine (DTP3) – the conventional measure for vaccine coverage in general – fell by four percentage points in 2020 and a further one percentage point in 2021.This is ground that must be regained. \'Renewal\', then, means both catching up losses and pressing ambitiously forward. Here are six ways Gavi will be doing that in 2023:1. Doubling down on essential immunisationMaking sure children have access to life-saving routine vaccines no matter where they live has been at the heart of Gavi\'s mission since the organisation was founded at the turn of the millennium. The upshot of its efforts so far? An estimated 16.2 million future deaths averted and child mortality halved in 73 lower-income countries.But there\'s a lot more to do. And, since the pandemic hobbled many national immunisation programmes, the world is now engaged in an urgent game of catch-up – the stakes of which are spotlit by the aberrant numbers of large-scale, life-threatening measles outbreaks the world has recorded this year alone.A renewed focus on routine immunisation and reaching zero-dose children, new vaccine introductions, a strengthened Alliance role in outbreak and pandemic preparedness and response, alongside continued COVID-19 vaccinations in lower income countries, is the basis of Gavi\'s next-period strategy, the Board has reaffirmed.2. Finding missed-out zero-dose childrenRenewing core commitments doesn\'t mean business as usual. Finding completely unvaccinated, hard-to-reach zero-dose children and bringing them under the shelter of the immunisation umbrella has been a core priority of Gavi\'s fifth strategic period, inaugurated in 2021, and which will reach its halfway point in 2023 (the evolution of the Gavi 5.0 strategy just endorsed by the Board is being called 5.1).The urgency of this work couldn\'t be clearer: Pre-pandemic analyses suggest nearly 50% of vaccine preventable deaths occur among zero-dose children. Two-thirds of these children live in extremely poor households suffering from multiple deprivations, including lack of access to reproductive health services, water and sanitation.It\'s a workstream that – in making vaccination blind spots its target – runs on innovation. The Zero-Dose Immunization Programme, or ZIP, a programme that launched this year, which serves kids in some of the most fragile cross-border zones on the planet, offers one example of the kinds of fresh approaches and partnerships that will channel Gavi\'s transformative efforts into 2023.3. Driving new vaccine introductions: HPV and moreThe human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine has the power to prevent 70–90% of cervical cancer cases – a disease which currently finds about 90% of its more than 340,000 annual victims in lower and middle-income countries (LMICs). Today, just 12% of people worldwide, and 9% of people in Gavi-supported countries, have been immunised against the cancer-causing virus.That\'s about to change. This week, the Board has green-lit an injection of US$ 167 million for the relaunch of Gavi\'s HPV vaccine programme, for a total investment of more than US$ 600 million. By 2025, the Alliance is planning to reach more than 86 million girls with the vaccine, which will translate to an estimated 1.4 million future deaths averted.Other vaccines that will receive beefed-up Gavi support in the next period include the world\'s first generation of malaria vaccines, and the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), a critical component of the global polio end-game.4. In principle, mainstreaming COVID-19 vaccines into Gavi\'s core programmesOther potential additions to the Gavi stable of vaccines are the COVID-19 jabs that have been saving lives worldwide for the past two years. While COVAX has a plan to cover the worst-case scenario – a major worldwide resurgence of the pandemic, including associated deaths – the Board agreed, in principle, to explore integrating the COVID-19 jabs into Gavi\'s core programming. The aim here is to help lift the burden on country health programmes of running specialised emergency immunisation programmes, and move towards a sustainable new normal.This approval in principle by the Board will help Gavi engage with countries and partners on what shape a future programme would take, while also remaining flexible in case of further developments in 2023.5. Helping grow vaccine manufacturing outside the Global North – especially in AfricaThe pandemic made it clear: concentrating the capacity to make vaccines in just a couple of global regions leaves the rest of the world at elevated risk. Gavi\'s Board has voted \'yes\' on a plan to step up and support regional institutions to create sustainable vaccine-manufacturing hubs in, particularly, Africa, which currently fulfils just 0.1% of global supply.The African Union has declared an intention that the continent should develop, produce and supply more than 60% of its own vaccine needs by 2040. For both global health equity and resilience, Gavi has pledged to help.6. Preparing for the next pandemicYou\'ve heard it by now: the question isn\'t if, it\'s when. Amid climate change, population growth, urbanisation, pressure on wildernesses and human migration, the chance of a COVID-19 scale pandemic breaking out has increased to an estimated 2% in any given year. At this very moment, the world is faced with no fewer than three WHO-declared Public Health Emergencies of International Concern (PHEICs): polio, mpox and COVID-19.If it wasn\'t clear before, it has certainly became evident during the COVID-19 pandemic that Gavi\'s decades of experience in responding to outbreaks gives the organisation an important position in the global landscape of pandemic preparedness and response (PPR). The Board voted this week to prioritise strengthening health systems in readiness for a major epidemic threat and working towards equitable access to outbreak and pandemic vaccines.

17 October 2022reliefwebGavi, the Vaccine Alliance announced today that it had signed an agreement with Moderna related to the supply of COVID-19 vaccines to lower-income countries supported by the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC). Under the agreement, Gavi and Moderna agree to cancel remaining volumes under their previous agreement in 2022, and establish a framework for lower-income countries to access doses of variant-containing vaccine (VCV) beginning in 2023. Gavi will have the right to access up to 100 million VCV doses, at Moderna\'s lowest tiered price, on behalf of AMC participants.\"This agreement with Moderna represents a critical step for equitable access, helping COVAX adjust its portfolio to current demand and ensuring lower income countries have access to variant-containing vaccines to use where appropriate,\" said Dr Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, which leads procurement and delivery at scale for COVAX.In the two years since the first COVID-19 vaccine received WHO emergency approval in December 2020, COVAX has delivered 1.8 billion doses to 146 countries around the world -- the largest and fastest public health rollout in history. This includes nearly 186 million doses of the Moderna vaccine, through both the advance purchase agreement with Moderna and dose donations. This effort has enabled 92 lower-income countries to protect, on average, more than 50% of their populations with two doses of COVID-19 vaccine -- and protect the majority of those at highest risk such as health care workers and the elderly.\"Gavi and our COVAX partners have been pivotal in ensuring the global supply of COVID-19 vaccines, leading the largest and most rapid vaccine rollout in history,\' said Stéphane Bancel, Chief Executive Officer of Moderna. \"We are proud of our role in this endeavor and will continue to support COVAX\'s mission to ensure broad, affordable, and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines across low- and middle-income countries as we move towards a world where COVID-19 is endemic.\"A key element to COVAX\'s ability to deploy COVID-19 vaccines at a historically high rate has been its ability to adapt to an unpredictable and rapidly changing pandemic environment. This latest agreement is part of an on-going effort to actively manage COVAX\'s portfolio to meet countries\' evolving needs and be prepared for unexpected future scenarios by rephasing, resizing and updating supply agreements with manufacturers and donors.Recognising that countries\' needs are still constantly changing, COVAX has also updated its allocation model so that AMC participants can now request -- and be rapidly allocated -- doses at any time. To-date, COVAX has been able to make doses available for 100% of the country requests received through this \"rolling allocation\" process.

Reliefweb29 September 2022Routine childhood immunisation experienced another challenging year in 2021 across the 57 countries supported by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, as basic vaccine coverage fell 1 percentage point to 77%, according to Gavi’s 2021 Annual Progress Report, which is published today. However, preliminary data for the first five months of 2022 suggests health systems may be recovering from the strains placed on them by the pandemic.With 65 million children in Gavi-supported countries immunised through routine systems in 2021, Gavi’s work managed to generate more than US$ 18.9 billion in economic benefits, according to the Report. Another highlight of 2021 was the record US$ 161 million in co-financing contributed by Gavi-supported countries, which indicates further progress towards sustainability and country commitment to protecting childhood immunisation.The Report also considers the fact that, with Gavi countries also administering more than 2 billion COVID-19 vaccines, their respective health systems were able to protect more people than ever before in 2021.One area of strategic focus for the Vaccine Alliance in 2022 and beyond highlighted in the report is the increase in the number of zero-dose children, infants who have not received the first dose of diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis-containing vaccine (DTP1), which grew by 570,000 to 12.5 million – leaving them vulnerable to some of the world’s deadliest diseases, and making Gavi’s 5.0 mission to locate and reach them even more pressing.Preliminary data from WHO suggests that countries’ immunisation programmes may be starting to recover. Among the 16 countries having reported data for January–May 2022, the data suggests a 2% increase. Gavi and its Alliance partners will be studying this data keenly in the coming months, to understand how countries are restoring their immunisation systems.“We have faced significant challenges,” said Prof José Manuel Barroso, Chair of the Gavi Board. “Routine immunisation continued to suffer in many countries in 2021 as a result of the pandemic. However, we are encouraged that the countries Gavi supports administered a record number of vaccine doses, both through routine programmes and also in their fight against COVID-19. Many countries did already begin to recover, which is a testament to heroic efforts made by their health systems and workers. As we move forward, we must maintain our focus on supporting routine immunisation and reaching zero-dose children with life-saving vaccines.”2021 also saw significant change for Gavi. In December 2021, the Gavi Board made history by approving funding to support the roll-out of the world’s first malaria vaccine in sub-Saharan Africa in 2022–2025. In addition, the first doses of licensed Ebola vaccine were shipped from a Gavi-funded global emergency stockpile of 500,000 doses. COVAX – which Gavi co-leads alongside the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF – shipped nearly 1 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to 144 countries and territories around the world by the end of the year; that figure reached nearly 1.8 billion in September 2022.“Since 2019, we have seen the biggest sustained drop in routine immunisation in a generation, and millions of children are still missing out,\" said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “Immunisation is one of the world\'s most effective and cost-effective public health interventions. Working alongside Gavi and other key partners, we need to catch-up on missed children – especially ‘zero-dose’ children who have yet to receive a single immunisation against killer childhood diseases – and make sure lost ground does not become lost lives.”“One of the great ironies of the COVID-19 pandemic is that while it has spurred the largest vaccination campaign in history, it has also disrupted routine immunisation for many vaccine-preventable diseases,” said Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General. “Together with Gavi and other COVAX partners, WHO is committed to delivering vaccines against COVID-19 to end the pandemic, while scaling up routine immunisation services to reach every last child with life-saving vaccines.”\"I am proud that health workers and the health system in Chad have succeeded in increasing the number of vaccinations by more than six percentage points and reducing the number of zero-dose children by 2021 despite the challenges of the pandemic and the global climate, in collaboration with Gavi and Vaccine Alliance partners, including WHO and UNICEF,” added Dr Abdelmadjid Abderahim, Minister of Health and National Solidarity of the Republic of Chad.“While we saw 65% of Gavi-supported countries restore routine immunisation to pre-pandemic levels, we must accept the fact that the recovery in 2021 was not as strong as we had would have liked,” stressed Dr Seth Berkley, Gavi CEO. “The same can be said for zero-dose children, who, as a cohort, tragically by grew by 570,000 in 2021. Early indications are that 2022 started strongly and this gives grounds for optimism. Likewise, we continue to look to high-performing countries such as Chad and Pakistan to identify learnings that can be applied in other countries and apply special attention to those countries where improvement continues to be elusive. There is no higher priority for the Alliance in 2022 than keeping routine immunisation progress on track.”Between 2000 and 2021, Gavi’s achievements included:> 981 million children vaccinated through routine programmes> 1.4 billion vaccinations through vaccination campaigns> 16.2 million future deaths prevented   561 vaccine introductions and campaigns> US$ 185.3 billion in economic benefits generated in the countries we support   US$ 1.3 billion in co-financing contributions from Gavi-supported countries since 2018

World Health Organization19 September 2022On 18 September, 400 000 doses of the Comirnaty mRNA vaccine against COVID-19 developed by Pfizer/BioNTech were delivered to Ukraine under the framework of the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access (COVAX) Facility. The vaccines will be distributed throughout 23 regions in the country by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine.  “Together with our international partners, we continue to deliver vaccines against COVID-19 to Ukraine. With the approach of the autumn/winter period, it is especially important to protect yourself from COVID-19, because as the experience of past years shows, the incidence increases sharply at this time,” said Dr Ihor Kuzin, Deputy Minister of Health and Chief State Sanitary Doctor of Ukraine. “Vaccination is an important priority during humanitarian emergencies, and one of UNICEF\'s key areas of work aimed at the protection and well-being of children and their parents. UNICEF will continue to help Ukraine provide access to immunization and adhere to a cold chain for vaccines,” emphasized Mr Murat Sahin, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Representative in Ukraine. Dr Jarno Habicht, WHO Representative in Ukraine, explained, “WHO continues to support Ukraine’s health system through the delivery of vaccines via the COVAX Facility and has trained over 30 000 health workers on the safe and effective use of COVID-19 vaccines, including on the use of the Comirnaty Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.”  Dr Habicht added, “WHO urges everybody, especially the elderly, people with chronic diseases and those belonging to at-risk groups, to get their primary vaccine series and boosters against COVID-19 and to protect themselves and others as we enter the autumn/winter period.”  The Comirnaty vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech contains messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) molecules that encode the spike protein found on the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. After the vaccine is administered, this mRNA enters the cells of the body and provides them with a kind of instruction on how to create this protein. The immune system recognizes that the protein does not belong to the person and produces antibodies against it. This is how the body learns to protect itself in the case of an encounter with a real SARS-CoV-2 virus. The vaccine is approved for emergency use by WHO. In Ukraine, the Comirnaty vaccine from Pfizer/BioNTech was registered for use on 22 February 2021. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic and since the beginning of the invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation, Ukraine has received COVID-19 vaccines for free through COVAX. COVAX is an international initiative that promotes access to effective and safe vaccines against COVID-19 for all countries. Deliveries on behalf of the initiative will continue to protect as many people as possible in Ukraine from the coronavirus disease. All adults and children over the age of 12 can be vaccinated against COVID-19 in Ukraine. A booster dose can be taken by all people over the age of 18. The second booster dose of COVID-19 vaccine is available for all people over 60 years old in Ukraine, as well as to those aged 18–59 with underlying medical conditions that increase the risk of a severe course of COVID-19. The European Union, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (Gavi), UNICEF, the United Kingdom, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and WHO all continue to support Ukraine on COVID-19 vaccination. Future deliveries will ensure that as many people as possible receive protection.The Comirnaty vaccine delivery was made possible thanks to financial support from USAID.

August 23, 2022 World Health OrganizationA total of 100 000 doses of the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine (Jcovden) were delivered to Ukraine this month under the COVAX initiative, and distributed to 22 regions in the country by the Ministry of Health. “These vaccines will provide further protection against COVID-19 and we are working continuously with the Ministry of Health and health professionals to ensure that people in Ukraine have access to vaccines. WHO urges everybody to use the opportunity to protect themselves and others,” said Dr Jarno Habicht, WHO Representative in Ukraine. The COVAX initiative aims to ensure fair and equitable access to vaccines against COVID-19 for every country in the world. COVAX is being coordinated by the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) and WHO. The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is working with manufacturers and partners on the procurement and logistics of COVID-19 vaccines for COVAX.WHO in Ukraine has trained more than 100 medical workers and trainers across the country to conduct further training on the use of the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine (Ad26.COV2-S [recombinant]). With support from WHO, Ukrainian health-care workers have received over 23 000 copies of guidance materials on the use of the vaccine, and more are being produced. “We are grateful to our international partners for their support to Ukraine. We know that the coronavirus has not disappeared, and we continue to record growing numbers of new cases of the disease,” said Ihor Kuzin, Deputy Minister of Health of Ukraine and Chief State Sanitary Doctor. “During the war, when people are often forced to be in overcrowded conditions and do not have full access to medical care, protection against COVID-19 with the help of vaccination is especially important.” The Janssen vaccine is intended for people over 18 years old and has been approved for emergency use listing by WHO. In Ukraine, the Janssen vaccine was registered on 2 July 2021.COVID-19 vaccination policy in Ukraine All adults and children over the age of 12 can be vaccinated against COVID-19 in Ukraine (age recommendations differ per vaccine). Anyone over the age of 18 may receive a booster dose following the primary vaccination series. People aged 60 and over, as well as those aged 18–59 with conditions that increase the risk of severe COVID-19 disease are prioritized for a second booster dose.The European Union, GAVI, UNICEF, the United Kingdom, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and WHO continue to support Ukraine on COVID-19 vaccination, and future deliveries will ensure that as many people as possible receive protection.The delivery the Jcovden vaccine was made possible thanks to financial support from the United Kingdom.

July 20, 2022Gavi.orgGeneva, 20 July 2022 – The world’s first-ever mass vaccination against malaria was brought a step closer today as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance opened a process for countries to apply for funding and support to roll out the new vaccine.The opening of the application window follows the WHO’s recommendation for wider routine use of the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine in October 2021 and a subsequent decision by the Gavi Board in December 2021 to approve an initial investment of US$ 155.7 million for the 2022–2025 period. Malaria vaccination was additionally supported by a US$ 56 million investment through a “de-risk” agreement with manufacturer GSK and innovative financing partner MedAccess. In recognition of the technical requirements of rollout and the need to provide tailored support to countries, a first application window, which closes 13 September, will be limited to the three countries that have taken part in the vaccine’s multi-year pilot programme: Kenya, Ghana and Malawi.A second window, which opens at the end of the year and closes in January, is open to other countries with moderate to high transmission of Plasmodium falciparum malaria. These countries can already submit expressions of interest (EoIs) during the first funding window to signal interest and provide them with the needed support to submit quality applications.“The work towards a malaria vaccine has been long and hard,” said Gavi CEO Dr Seth Berkley. “Today we begin a new chapter: alongside existing interventions, this new tool will allow us to save more lives in countries hit hardest by this killer disease.”The introduction of the RTS,S/AS01 malaria vaccine builds on successful implementation pilots and will be the first ever widespread malaria vaccination programme. Alongside currently recommended malaria control interventions – and alongside these existing protections, it could help drive down child mortality in Africa, the continent that bears the heaviest malaria burden. More than 260 000 African children under the age of five years old die from malaria annually, and six Gavi-eligible countries account for 50% of global mortality.“One child dies of malaria every minute in Africa, and we must do everything possible to stop this trend. The new funding opportunity will make the world’s only malaria vaccine more accessible to African children. If delivered to scale, the vaccine will help to prevent millions of cases of malaria, save tens of thousands of lives and ensure a brighter future for the continent,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa.Alongside the World Health Organization (WHO) announcement of finalization of the vaccine allocation framework to facilitate transparent and equitable allocation of limited vaccine supplies and UNICEF’s procurement agreement for the RTS,S vaccine, Gavi’s application guidelines (found here) are based on targeted support that will grow as volumes of available doses increase through an expected ramp-up in production.“A vaccine has been the missing piece in the malaria toolkit since UNICEF first took up the fight against malaria decades ago, making this very welcome news,” said Etleva Kadilli, Director of UNICEF\'s supply and procurement headquarters. “We look forward to working with Gavi, WHO and other partners to bring this vaccine to the children who need it.”The Alliance and other partners will also work with countries to provide orientation and technical assistance to ensure quality planning and country readiness in view of future application windows. Applications will be reviewed by the Gavi Independent Review Committee (IRC), and successful applicants will then have a period of implementation planning support before rollout.

Premium Times Nigeria2022년 5월 21일COVAX has surpassed the milestone of 1.5 billion COVID-19 vaccines delivered around the world, following a shipment of 2.26 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to Tanzania.A little over 15 months since its first international delivery to Ghana, COVAX has now shipped COVID-19 vaccines to 145 countries across the world.Nearly 90% of these have been fully funded doses delivered to lower-income countries supported by the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC). COVAX is the major supplier of COVID-19 vaccines in low-income countries and humanitarian settings.As the largest and most complex global vaccination effort in history, COVAX’s work has helped raise the proportion of people in 92 lower-income countries protected by a full course of vaccines to 46% on average.Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, which manages the COVAX Facility and the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC), and leads on procurement and delivery at scale for COVAX, comments on this milestone: “This is a significant milestone for COVAX, set up as an unprecedented global collaboration during the worst public health emergency in a hundred years, but more importantly, we are proud to have contributed to the incredible achievements of lower-income countries, who have administered nearly 4 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines in a truly historic global rollout.“Tanzania is a fitting example of the hurdles that have been overcome and the challenges that remain: the pandemic is not over, and we must remain committed at all levels to pushing coverage rates higher, focusing on ensuring those at high risk are fully protected. With plentiful global supply now available to support this effort, the next 3-4 months are crucial.“We call on countries to set ambitious targets backed by concrete plans for implementation and on all partners to provide countries with the resources needed to accelerate and expand national strategies.“COVAX remains committed to working with partners to ensure lower-income countries can access both vaccines and the support needed to turn these vaccines into vaccinations.”