Between 1980 and 2010, immunisation helped cut child mortality rates by half and decreased by 90% the global incidence of many infectious diseases such as tetanus, diphtheria, measles, polio or whooping cough. However, global vaccination rates are stagnating and 19.4 million children still do not have access to basic vaccines.
France’s investment into global immunisation is done via Gavi, the Vaccines Alliance, a public-private partnership created in 2000, which works to improve access to immunisation for children living in the world’s poorest countries. This initiative allows to buy vaccines at affordable prices by ensuring demand and competition on the vaccines market. Gavi’s core objective is to protect children’s lives and public health by improving the use of vaccines in developing countries.
Global vaccination coverage gaps have consequences. Diseases which were previously under control can emerge again, as is the case of measles in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In developing countries, millions of people continue to suffer and die, which affect already underfinanced health systems.
Major progress in recent years are also threatened by the COVID19 pandemic. Vaccination services are on hold or being postponed in order to prevent gatherings that could lead to transmission of the virus in communities. Many have raised the alarm on the risk of measles and polio resurgence, which could cause more deaths than COVID19. 80 millions children under one year old risk contracting preventable diseases because of basic vaccine systems’ disruption.
Our asks:
We believe equal access to vaccines should be guaranteed to all children and adults. We’re asking:
- France and the EU to maintain ambitious financing pledges towards Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance : the partnership’s efficiency is no longer to be demonstrated and the strategy it pursues corresponds to the priorities of France and the EU in terms of Health Systems Strengthening (HSS), the fight against inequalities in terms of health and gender, and domestic resource mobilisation.
- That all populations, including in low income countries have access to immunization, strong health systems equipped with a qualified health workforce in all communities, sufficient and sustainable finances and stronger procurement systems.
- That France and the EU actively participate in the realisation of Universal Health Coverage (UHC) in order to eliminate financial barriers to child immunization.
- That the crucial role of civil society and communities be recognised in terms of prevention, especially among most marginalised groups, as well as their efforts to increase acceptability and vaccine use in those communities ; that national budgets and development aid support those community actors.
- That the international community commits to take all necessary measures to ensure that, when available, the future COVID19 vaccines be accessible to all, especially in most fragile countries and among most vulnerable groups.
At the onset of the pandemic, many European Heads of States underlined the necessity to make future medical technologies against COVID19 « global public goods ». However, no concrete measure has been put in place to date to guarantee universal access to COVID19 products, notably vaccines for which half of the doses have already been bought off by rich countries, who only represent 13% of the world’s population. Maintaining intellectual property barriers on those products (TRIPS agreement) impede on increasing production, reduces diversity in terms of manufacturers and refrain competition, which would translate into lower prices. Neither France nor the EU have supported the proposal to temporarily waive those restrictions, backed by almost 100 countries.
