GENEVA, June 13, 2023 (BSS/AFP) - The Gavi vaccine alliance said Tuesday 
that it had helped provide routine vaccines to over one billion children 
since it was established 23 years ago, saving millions of lives.

In addition, the Geneva-based organisation said in an activity report that it 
had provided billions more jabs during special campaigns and emergencies, not 
least the Covid-19 pandemic.

In total, the organisation created in 2000 to provide an array of vaccines to 
developing countries said it had helped provide roughly six billion 
vaccinations globally, protecting children and adults against 19 infectious 
diseases.

The public-private partnership, which brings together developing countries 
and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, 
the vaccine industry, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and others, is 
particularly focused on childhood vaccines.

Its routine vaccine programme, it said, had provided immunisation to more 
than one billion children, helping to halve child mortality in 73 lower-
income countries, and had prevented some 17 million deaths.

Looking ahead, it said it was on track to immunise 300 million children 
between 2021 and 2025, preventing an additional seven to eight million 
deaths.

Gavi highlighted the dire toll the Covid pandemic had taken on routine 
vaccination around the world, with a five-percentage-point drop in coverage 
between 2020 and 2021.

But it said preliminary data indicated a recovery of routine immunisation 
last year, with coverage across Gavi-implementing countries increasing by 
three points, helping coverage levels "return closer to their historical 
baseline".

"Gavi's goal is to continue that catch-up while also reaching the millions of 
'zero dose' children still missing out on life-saving vaccinations," it said.

In addition to its work on routine childhood vaccines, Gavi manages 
stockpiles of vaccines against cholera, yellow fever, meningococcal disease 
and Ebola.

The organisation also took the lead on the Covax initiative for Covid 
vaccines, alongside the World Health Organization, UNICEF and the Coalition 
for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.

The global scheme has so far shipped nearly two billion Covid vaccines, 
helping prevent an estimated 2.7 million deaths across 92 low-income 
countries, Gavi said.