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Alliance Seeks $7.4B to Immunize 300M Children

Lisa Schlein

   GENEVA - Gavi, the global vaccine alliance that targets developing
   countries, said Friday that it was appealing for $7.4 billiontoimmunize
   300 millionchildren in 2021-25.

   Gavi'slatest fundraising drive isitsmost ambitious to date.Officials
   saidthey expectedhuge returns from what would be the agency's most
   comprehensive and cost-effective preventive health package ever.
   Gavisaidthe vaccines would protect against18 diseases, saving up to 8
   million lives.Spokeswoman FrederiqueTissandiersaidsustainable
   investmentwas needed for theprojectbecause there still are 1.5 million
   people dying every year from vaccine-preventable diseases.

   "The situation is increasingly fragile because of climate change,
   because of wars, because of the rise of the population in the urban
   slums," she said. "Soyou have more and more epidemics that are
   spreading around."

   TissandiersaidGaviplannedto introduce new vaccines to prevent deadly
   diseases. For instance, she said,Gaviis ready to invest up to $150
   million in a new Ebola vaccine stockpile once it is prequalified by the
   World Health Organization.
   She toldVOAthat Gavialsowouldhelp the Democratic Republic oftheCongo
   obtain the lifesaving vaccines it needs to immunize children against
   other killer diseases.
   "We are going to fund, for instance, starting in September, measles
   campaigns in DRC to cover--I think the number is close to 18 million
   kids--to strengthen routine immunization,because we really focus on
   routine immunization,"Tissandiersaid. "We fund the stockpile against
   cholera, yellow fever or meningitis to respond tooutbreaks."
   She saidsupport for the global polio eradication program remaineda
   priority.TissandiersaidGaviwouldinvest up to $800 million to accelerate
   the rollout of inactivated poliovirus vaccine. This would
   protectagainst a re-emergence of the disease in areas such as Africa,
   which is on the cusp of becoming polio-free, and other regions that
   already have achieved that status.

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