Page 11 - Issue 9

Alex Jones have been suggesting Gates poorest countries against diseases to Gavi, including Bhutan, Burkina
is using vaccines to “sterilize” and like measles, polio and diphtheria by Faso, Cameroon, Finland, Greece, New
“depopulate” the world for at least a the end of 2025. It will also support Zealand, Portugal and Uganda.
decade. health systems to withstand the impact “On behalf of the countless vaccinators,
The coronavirus crisis has been an of coronavirus and maintain the supply chain workers, programme
example of how, billionaire philanthropy infrastructure necessary to roll out a managers and the many, many others
can do critical work, where governments future COVID-19 vaccine on a global that work tirelessly every day to ensure
and global systems have failed to get scale. children in vulnerable countries
it done. An example of failure of The pledges were made at the Global continue to receive lifesaving vaccines
governments was particularly laid bare Vaccine Summit 2020 , hosted by – thank you,” said Dr Ngozi Okonjo-
when President Donald Trump mounted UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson. Iweala, Gavi Board Chair. “We have
what is billed as an incompetent response Representatives from 52 countries, made incredible progress over the
to the pandemic, leading to the deaths of including 35 Heads of State, joined past two decades improving vaccine
thousands. leaders from global health organizations, coverage and reducing child mortality
the private sector, vaccine manufacturers across Africa and Asia. This funding will
In the developing world, Gates funds
the Global Polio Eradication Initiative
(GPEI), that has supported the effort to
eliminate polio globally.
Gates’s proposal is to build seven
factories, for all the leading vaccine
candidates, and manufacture lots of
each of them. He estimates this will cost
billions. Though the foundation hasn’t
disclosed how much it will personally
be spending, a project of this magnitude
will require other stakeholders — a
model that Gates has perfected in his
public health projects.
Moreover, the Gates Foundation is
working with a range of national and
multilateral stakeholders who are
funding the development of vaccines
for COVID-19. Enhancements of global Child immunization in Africa
manufacturing capacity are clearly
required given the population-level scale and civil society organizations to support give countries new hope that, despite
at which a COVID-19 vaccine will need the Vaccine Alliance’s work protecting the devastating impact of COVID-19,
to be given,” the Gates Foundation told almost half the world’s children against this progress can be sustained and built
Vox in a statement. “Many of the current deadly, preventable infectious diseases. on. The Alliance will now get to work
vaccine approaches are novel and have Gavi, the World Health Organization making this happen.”
never been scaled for a commercialized (WHO) and UNICEF have warned that The Global Vaccine Summit also saw
product. In addition, governments 80 million children under the age of one the launch of the Advance Market
need to continue to provide important are at risk of disease due to disruptions Commitment for COVID-19 Vaccines
vaccines for other diseases while scaling to vital immunisation programmes ( Covax AMC, a new innovative
a successful COVID-19 vaccine.” because of COVID-19. financing instrument to provide access
Meanwhile, World leaders have pledged The UK remains the Vaccine Alliance’s to COVID-19 vaccines for low- and
an additional US$ 8.8 billion for Gavi, largest donor, pledging the equivalent of middle-income countries. This is the
the Vaccine Alliance, far exceeding the £330 million per year over the next five first building block towards a global
mechanism to ensure equitable access
target of US$ 7.4 billion. years. Other top donors include the Bill to future COVID-19 vaccines. US$ 567
The funding will help immunise 300 & Melinda Gates Foundation, Norway, million was raised today in initial seed
million more children in the world’s Germany and the United States. Eight money for the AMC from 12 donors.
countries made their first ever pledge

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