Gates Foundation marks $10 billion for vaccines

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has committed $10 billion for the next 10 years to help research, create and deliver vaccines for developing countries. A news release about the funding said the Gates Foundation used a model developed by a consortium led by the Institute of International Programs at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health to project the impact of vaccines on childhood mortality for the next 10 years.

According to the Gates Foundation, the model estimates that increasing vaccine efforts to 90% coverage—including new vaccines to prevent diarrhea and pneumonia—could prevent the deaths of about 7.6 million children under the age of 5 years old between 2010 and 2019. Also, the foundation estimates that an additional 1.1 million children could be saved with the rapid introduction of a malaria vaccine beginning in 2014, which would bring the total to 8.7 million preventable deaths.

The announcement was made at the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting held in Davos, Switzerland, where speakers emphasized the need for major funding from donors, governments and the private sector to quickly scale immunization programs to reach all those in need; conduct research and clinical trials for new vaccines; introduce new vaccines for pneumonia and severe diarrhea; and ensure a steady market for vaccines in developing countries. The new funding is in addition to $4.5 billion that the Gates Foundation had already committed to vaccine research, the foundation said.

What do you think? Post a comment on this article and share your opinion with other readers. Submit your comments to Modern Healthcare Online at [email protected]. Please be sure to include your hometown and state, along with your organization and title.