Australia Extends Investment in Vaccine Alliance

Foreign Minister Julie Bishop has announced Australia will extend its investment in Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
The $50 million pledge brings Australia’s current five-year commitment to a total of $250 million. The investment was welcomed by anti-poverty organisation RESULTS International (Australia) as it will will protect children at risk from killer diseases with known vaccines.
“This contribution by Australia is very encouraging. However attention is already turning to how Gavi will fund its plan to immunise 300 million additional children by 2020. Australia will need to step up its commitment in order to maintain its role as a lead donor to Gavi promoting health and prosperity in this region,” said RESULTS CEO Ms Maree Nutt.
“RESULTS is therefore calling on the Australian government to pledge $100 million annually’” Ms Nutt continued.
Australia’s investment will procure vaccines and strengthen health systems in countries around the world and in our region, including Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and Laos. Gavi’s support will bring direct benefits to the global economy worth $80 to $100 billion.
“For every $1 invested by Australia into Gavi, over $8 has been invested in our region by Gavi. Our support to date has allowed at least 16 million children to be vaccinated. That kind of scale is something we could never do on our own”, Ms Nutt said.
Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, can also play a crucial role in global health security. Researchers are working to develop a vaccine against Ebola as quickly as possible. Gavi is well placed and developing options to scale production, secure markets and work with governments to distribute an Ebola vaccine around the world once it becomes available.
At a meeting in Canberra, Ms Bishop said the alliance is investigating whether to help distribute an Ebola vaccine