What is Gavi/Vaccine Alliance?

Why in News? Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) have announced a new agreement to make the R21/Matrix-M malaria vaccine significantly more accessible and affordable globally.

• Core Achievement: The deal is expected to deliver substantial financial savings, which will be used to procure millions of additional vaccine doses, leading to expanded protection for children against malaria.

About the R21/Matrix-M Vaccine Deal:

New Price: The price of the vaccine is expected to fall to $2.99 per dose, with this change anticipated to take effect in approximately one year.

Savings Generated: The agreement is expected to generate up to $90 million in savings for Gavi and the

Children Protected: The deal is projected to enable the full vaccination of nearly seven million more children against malaria over the next five years.

Executing Agency: The agreement was formally executed by UNICEF, which holds the position of the world’s largest buyer of vaccines.

Gavi’s Role: Gavi facilitates and finances the procurement, logistics, and integration of malaria vaccines into national immunisation programmes.

Current Reach: The Gavi programme has already delivered over 40 million doses of malaria vaccines, which are currently part of routine immunisation in 24 African countries (these countries represent over 70% of the world’s malaria burden).

Malaria Vaccines in Use: The World Health Organization (WHO) has prequalified two malaria vaccines: R21/Matrix-M and RTS,S/AS01.

R21 Development: The R21/Matrix-M vaccine was co-developed by the University of Oxford and the Serum Institute of India (SII), utilizing Novavax’s Matrix-M adjuvant technology.

 Innovative Mechanism: IFFIm

The agreement’s financing was enabled by an innovative financial tool: the International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm) mechanism.

• Financing: The deal is financed by Gavi through an advance payment made possible by IFFIm.
• IFFIm Function: IFFIm is a mechanism that converts long-term donor pledges into immediately available cash by issuing Vaccine Bonds on the capital markets.
• Purpose: This mechanism provides Gavi with the agility to act quickly when market-shaping opportunities arise, such as securing this reduced, equitable pricing for the malaria vaccine.

About GAVI:

GAVI, officially known as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is a global health partnership dedicated to increasing access to immunization in the world’s poorest countries.

Mission and Purpose:

Gavi was founded in 2000 as a public-private partnership with the core goal of saving children’s lives and protecting people’s health by increasing the equitable and sustainable use of vaccines. It focuses particularly on reaching “zero-dose children”—those who have not received even a single routine vaccine shot.

Impact and Results:

Since its inception, Gavi has achieved significant results in global health:

• Lives Saved: It has helped vaccinate over 2 billion children in 78 lower-income countries, which has prevented more than 20.6 million future deaths.
• Child Mortality: Its efforts have contributed to halving child mortality in the countries it supports.
• Economic Benefits: For every US$1 spent on immunization in Gavi-supported countries, an estimated **US$54** in broader economic benefits is generated, including health care savings and increased productivity.
• Disease Prevention: It supports the introduction and delivery of vaccines against deadly diseases such as cholera, Ebola, yellow fever, meningitis, and the Pentavalent vaccine (which protects against Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, Haemophilus influenzae type b, and Hepatitis B).