India Pledges to Donate USD 15 Million to International Vaccine Alliance- GAVI

Prime Minister Narendra Modi pledged to donate USD 15 million to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI). He made the announcement during the Global Vaccine Summit hosted by the United Kingdom (UK) on June 4, 2020.

The virtual summit was opened by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson who urged the nations around the world to pledge for vaccination funding in order to save millions of lives as well as to protect the world from future outbreaks.

PM Modi in his address supported GAVI mentioning that India’s huge demand will bring down the global price of vaccines. He was among 35 heads of states and government participants, including United States President Donald Trump to virtually join the conference.

Global Vaccine Summit: Key Highlights

• The leaders of around 35 heads of states virtually joined the conference that aimed at raising USD 7.4 million to immunise further 300 million children in the poorest countries of the world by 2025.

• The UK government mentioned that the funding that will be raised from the summit will not only protect the children from deadly diseases like diphtheria, polio, and measles to save up to 8 million lives but it will also help in ensuring a global recovery from Coronavirus pandemic.

• PM Boris Johnson stated that the UK is the single biggest donor to the international effort for finding the COVID-19 vaccine. It will also remain the world’s leading donor to GAVI as it will be contributing 1.65 billion pounds over the next five years.

• UK government had mentioned that vaccinating children against the other deadly diseases will protect the healthcare systems of the world’s poorest countries so that they can also cope with rising cases of COVID-19.

• UK has also been the single largest donor of any country to the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

Why Global Vaccine Summit was important?

Presently as the entire world is focused on tackling Coronavirus, UNICEF, World Health Organization (WHO) and GAVI have warned the countries that the pandemic has been disrupting routine immunisation, which affects approximately 80 million children under the age of one across 68 countries.

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, UK International Development Secretary, stated that as the world is quite rightly focused on responding to the invisible killer, the ongoing pandemic cannot disrupt the routine immunisation of some of the world’s poorest countries. It can cause other deadly diseases to spread across the globe.

She further stated that we all know vaccines work which is why at today’s summit everyone should step up and pledge funds to GAVI. It will help to continue saving the lives of millions of children as well as protect everyone from the deadly diseases.

GAVI has also been addressing the immediate needs triggered by COVID-19. It also provides immediate medical supplies and helps in increasing testing and surveillance of the disease.

During the summit, it was also mentioned that if an effective and safe COVID-19 vaccine is developed, GAVI will play a role in its delivery around the world which will ensure a collective global recovery and will also reduce a risk of future waves of infection.

CEO of GAVI, the vaccine alliance, Dr. Seth Berkley mentioned that in the past decade, incredible progress boosting vaccine coverage has been witnessed in the world’s poorest countries and more children in more countries are now protected against diseases than any point in history.

However, COVID-19 has put disruption to the vaccine programmes worldwide and there is now a real prospect of a resurgence of diseases such as yellow fever, polio, measles. Berkley further added that this is why the Global Vaccine Summit is important as it will bring leaders from around the world to build global health security and keep everyone safe from future outbreaks.

PM Narendra Modi attends the Global Vaccine Summit:

While addressing the summit, PM Modi mentioned that India’s support to GAVI is not just financial but also our huge demand will bring down the global price of vaccines.

He further added that in today’s challenging context, India stands in solidarity with the world. He also assured that our capacity to produce quality medicines, our own domestic experience in rapidly expanding the immunisation, producing vaccines at low cost, and our scientific research talent is all at service to humanity.

PM Modi pledged that the world can count on India’s support in the mission of vaccination against the diseases. He also highlighted India’s role as the world’s fourth-largest producer of the vaccines.

Indian Prime Minister also talked about the government’s mission Indradhanush that aims at assuring the full vaccination of children and pregnant women. He informed that India has been fortunate to contribute to the immunisation of 60 percent of the world’s children.

In his address, PM Modi also mentioned that India recognizes and values the work of GAVI and stated that its not just a global alliance but also a symbol of solidarity and a reminder that by helping others, we can help ourselves also.

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Source: Jagaran Josh

Image Courtesy: Zoom News

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