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$4.3bn international pledge to fund child vaccinations
"For the first time we can say poor children will not be refused the vaccines that children in the richer world get because there is not enough money."
- Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates
The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (Gavi) conference in London, UK, last week saw an unprecedented amount of donations. The hopes had been to collect $3.7bn to further the cause of childhood vaccinations and immunizations in the developing world. Instead, Gavi received a combined amount of $4.3bn.
The increase can partly be attributed to the lobbying efforts led by Microsoft founder and philanthropist Bill Gates, pleading countries, corporations and charities to dig deeper.
"It was certainly thrilling at the outcome of this conference," said Gates afterwards. "Over the last two months we were hoping people would come in and push themselves to be generous… That is exactly what happened.
"For the first time we can say poor children will not be refused the vaccines that children in the richer world get because there is not enough money."
The biggest donator was the United Kingdom who pledged $1335m. Other main contributors were Norway, USA, Sweden, Netherlands, Australia, France and Germany.
Before the conference, Gavi was facing a major hole in its finances, partly due to the high prices it agreed with major pharmaceutical companies for new vaccines. Last week, some companies, among them GlaxoSmithKline, announced significant drops in prices for some of the vaccines they make, and Gates said he expected competition – particularly from emerging markets such as India and China – to continue to drive prices down.