Vaccines 10 Years

Vaccines: Making a best-buy better

May 6th, 2010 1:49 PM UTC
By Dr. Margaret Chan

This entry in our series on “Vaccines: The Next 10 Years” comes from Dr. Margaret Chan, Director-General of the World Health Organization:

In January, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation pledged $10 billion over the next decade to help deliver existing vaccines and develop new ones. This commitment, which launches the Decade of Vaccines, gives an unprecedented boost to an area of public health that is already on a winning streak.

Vaccines are one of the best life-saving buys on offer. Each year, immunization programmes prevent an estimated 2 to 3 million deaths. No other public health intervention reduces illness and deaths, on such a scale, in such a safe and cost-effective way.

Progress since the start of this century has been stunning. For the first time in nearly 6 decades, immunization programmes helped push the worldwide number of young-child deaths below the 10-million mark. As the decade progressed, the number dipped again to below 9 million. Ambitious targets for reducing deaths from measles, one of the most contagious childhood killers known, have been surpassed, with Africa leading the way.

We can pinpoint some reasons for this success: an international drive to reach time-bound health goals, the commitment of governments in the developing world, new financial instruments, and several new partnerships, like the Measles Initiative and the GAVI Alliance.

GAVI, which was launched at the start of this century by a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, was founded on the principle of fairness. Poverty or the place where a child is born should not influence access to life-saving vaccines, including the newer and more expensive ones. Every child deserves the best that science can offer. In its brief ten-year history, GAVI has reached 257 million additional children with new and underused vaccines.

Still, as we begin this Decade of Vaccines, more children need to be reached – with the best that science can offer. New vaccines that protect children from pneumonia and diarrhoea, the two biggest killers of young children, need to be more widely introduced. Information systems in developing countries need to improve so that we can measure progress and target resources more wisely. Incentives need to be found to stimulate R&D for badly needed new vaccines that are unlikely to make a profit. To ensure continuing expansion of coverage, production needs to increase and prices need to go down. Immunization programmes are already delivering other interventions that promote child survival, and this value-added approach should likewise expand.

WHO is active in all these areas. As just one example, our programme for the pre-qualification of vaccines is helping vaccine manufacturers in the developing world become internationally competitive. As a result, supplies are more plentiful and reliable, and competition is driving prices down, with no compromise of safety or quality.

Above all, we need to encourage all partners – from foundations and ministries of health to grassroots workers – to keep up the good work. At a time when the world seems overwhelmed by bad news, I am constantly inspired by the good will, generosity, and creativity that are driving efforts to improve child survival. My heartfelt thanks to all.

Three Conditions Needed for True “Decade of Vaccines”

Apr 26th, 2010 9:38 AM UTC
By Jean Stéphenne

This entry in our series on “Vaccines: The Next 10 Years” comes from Jean Stéphenne, Chairman and President of GlaxoSmithKline Biologicals:

Recently, Bill Gates injected new energy and resources into the immunization field with an unprecedented pledge of US$10 billion through 2020 for vaccine development and delivery. It was a great start to the new decade. From my vantage point at one of the world’s largest vaccine companies, I can identify three conditions that will be needed for the next ten years to live up to the designation of the “decade of vaccines.”

Research and Development: The first condition is a robust and sustained investment in vaccine R&D. By now, vaccines have been developed for many pediatric diseases, such as polio and measles. But many challenges still remain – including HIV/AIDS, malaria, tuberculosis and dengue fever. Continued investment and scientific breakthroughs will be needed.

In 2009 alone, GSK invested US$6.3 billion of our own resources into R&D for vaccines and medicines, with a team of 15,000 people working to push the boundaries of health innovation. We are also working with groups such as the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and the Aeras Global TB Vaccine Foundation to leverage our resources. Indeed, our malaria vaccine candidate, currently in a pivotal Phase III trial in Africa, is being jointly developed with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation-funded PATH Malaria Vaccine Initiative (MVI). If all goes as planned, the world’s first malaria vaccine could be available within five years or so.

Manufacturing capacity: The second necessary condition is sufficient manufacturing capacity to satisfy global demand. Our company is addressing this global need by building new and expanded facilities in the U.S., Belgium, France, Germany and Singapore and by engaging in innovative joint ventures with leading companies in Brazil, China and Japan. New financing mechanisms, such as the recently launched Pneumococcal Advance Market Commitment (AMC), help companies invest in development and manufacturing capacity by guaranteeing the availability of initial funds to purchase vaccines. For example, we built our new plant in Singapore to help us deliver hundreds of millions of pneumococcal vaccine doses globally, including to developing countries.

Global Access: The third condition is the expansion of global access to vaccines. GSK does its part by discounting vaccines sold for use in immunization programs in the world’s poorest countries by 90% or more, an approach our company pioneered more than 25 years ago. Increasingly, “tiered pricing” is used in middle-income countries as well. As with the first two conditions, ensuring global access depends on the creation of innovative partnerships with numerous public and not-for-profit entities. These range from GSK’s work with the GAVI Alliance on childhood immunizations to our partnership with Rotary International to eradicate polio.

Will these conditions be met over the next 10 years? The challenges I have outlined here are not trivial, but I am an optimist by nature. There is a renewed focus on reducing childhood mortality to meet the UN’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015, which will certainly help. With sustained investment and political commitment, this can indeed be the “decade of vaccines.” The societal benefits would be incalculable: millions of lives saved and illnesses averted, giving children around the world a better opportunity to lead healthy, productive and happy lives.

It can be done

Apr 7th, 2010 12:21 PM UTC
By David Cole

On Friday, David Lane announced a new series on the ONE Blog called “Vaccines: The Next 10 Years”. Throughout April, we’ll feature an array of guest posts looking at the next 10 years of vaccines. Today’s post comes from Julian Lob-Levyt, CEO of the GAVI Alliance:

Most of us who live in so-called “rich countries” hardly remember the many diseases we’ve been vaccinated against. But ask anyone in a developing country and, more than likely, they are well aware of how a simple jab in the arm or leg can save a life.

They’ve probably been witness to the modern day tragedy that so many people are completely unaware of. A tragedy that plays out in rural villages in Africa, Central America and Asia. Every day, common vaccine-preventable diseases are killing children.

In fact, vaccine-preventable diseases account for nearly 25% of all deaths among young children. Hospitals and clinics in developing countries are packed full of sick children. As a result, their parents are often forced into debt paying medical bills or burdened with a lifetime of responsibility caring for children who survive but are rendered disabled. Multiplied together, it is a tragedy that affects millions of children, their families and whole nations.

But, it’s a tragedy that simple and effective vaccines can end.

The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, or GAVI, was launched in 2000 to improve and accelerate access to immunisation. Thanks to the strength of its member organisations and the support of its donors, the GAVI Alliance can show impressive results over the past decade: more than 250 million additional children immunised against life-threatening diseases and 5.4 million lives saved.

GAVI’s success demonstrates the power of immunisation. A simple, inexpensive shot can be the difference between life and death, a future of hope, not despair.

Julian Lob-Levyt

Vaccines: The Next 10 Years

Apr 7th, 2010 12:17 PM UTC
By David Lane

ONE campaigns for effective solutions to ending poverty. And while the path out of poverty is complex and requires a multi-pronged approach, some simple tools do exist. Enter vaccines-they’re relatively simple and cost-effective, and we can take advantage of their many benefits right now. In fact, they are often called “the best buy in public health,” and ONE will be advocating for vaccines as a critical part of our push for improved maternal and child health.

I don’t want to oversimplify this; vaccines are not a cure-all, and they don’t guarantee good health. But they do help make sure that millions of children and adults don’t die from preventable diseases. Take the vaccines for rotavirus and pneumococcal disease-the two biggest disease killers of children under five. Distribution of these two vaccines could save the lives of 7.6 million children under the age of five during the next 10 years.

Recently, Bill and Melinda Gates called for a Decade of Vaccines to help research, develop and deliver vaccines to the world’s poor. During the next month, the ONE blog will feature guest posts that we hope will build on this conversation. Many of our partners will share what they think are the necessary steps to make the next ten years of vaccines as successful as possible. They’ll also share what role their organization will play in making it a reality. And we hope you’ll comment on their posts and share your thoughts, too.

This blog series is just the first step in a larger campaign to educate ONE’s members, the public, and key decision makers about the critical benefits of vaccines. I hope you enjoy, learn from and comment on this series over the coming weeks. I know you’ll become as excited about this opportunity as I am.