[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 578 Reported in Senate (RS)]
Calendar No. 614
113th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 578
Supporting the role of the United States in ensuring children in the
world's poorest countries have access to vaccines and immunization
through Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
November 13, 2014
Mr. Menendez (for himself, Mr. Rubio, Mr. Coons, Mr. Boozman, Mr.
Durbin, Mrs. Boxer, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Cardin, Mr. Kaine, Mr. Markey, Mr.
Wicker, Mrs. Feinstein, Mr. Blumenthal, Mrs. Shaheen, Mr. Brown, and
Mr. Udall of New Mexico) submitted the following resolution; which was
referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
December 4, 2014
Reported by Mr. Menendez, without amendment
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Supporting the role of the United States in ensuring children in the
world's poorest countries have access to vaccines and immunization
through Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
Whereas, prior to 2000, the distribution of, and the resources for, vaccines for
children in the developing world were declining, immunization rates were
stagnant or decreasing, and nearly 30,000,000 children born in the
developing world each year were not fully immunized;
Whereas, prior to 2000, it was common for new life-saving vaccines to take up to
15 years to be introduced in the world's poorest countries;
Whereas access to routine immunization and vaccines protect children from deadly
but preventable disease and contribute to national economic growth and
poverty reduction by ensuring people live longer, healthier, and more
productive lives;
Whereas, in 2000, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the United States, the
United Nations Children's Emergency Fund (UNICEF), the World Health
Organization, the World Bank, bilateral partners, developing countries,
the private sector, including the vaccine industry, civil society, and
other partners joined forces to create a public-private partnership
called the Global Fund for Children's Vaccines (now Gavi, the Vaccine
Alliance) in order to expand access to new and underused vaccines and
support the introduction and scale-up of these vaccines into routine
immunization systems in the world's poorest countries;
Whereas partnership and sustainability are at the core of the Gavi model by
requiring eligible countries to contribute financing to some portion of
their vaccine costs and directly invest in immunizing their children;
Whereas, by 2012, more than 65 developing countries working with Gavi were co-
financing new and underused vaccines and more than 20 countries are
projected to graduate between 2016 and 2020, moving toward fully funding
their national immunization programs;
Whereas Gavi has transformed the market for vaccines by pooling demand from
developing countries matched with secure, predictable financing to make
vaccines more affordable and their supply more reliable, and encouraging
research and development of new vaccines;
Whereas, as a result, Gavi has played a critical role in increasing the number
of global vaccine manufacturers selling to the world's poorest countries
from 5 in 2001 to 13 in 2014;
Whereas the price for the pneumococcal vaccine, which prevents pneumonia, is now
more than 90 percent lower for Gavi-eligible countries than elsewhere,
and the price of rotavirus vaccines, which prevents diarrhea, is 67
percent lower in Gavi-eligible countries;
Whereas, with innovative financing mechanisms like the Advance Market Commitment
and International Finance Facility for Immunisation (IFFIm), Gavi
ensures that appropriate and affordable vaccines are available
throughout the developing world;
Whereas Gavi supports the financing and delivery of 11 vaccines, including those
against pneumococcal disease and rotavirus, the leading vaccine-
preventable causes of pneumonia and diarrhea, which kill more children
under the age of five than any other disease;
Whereas Gavi collaborates closely with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative
on the final push to end polio, strengthening and bringing the
inactivated polio vaccine into routine immunization programs;
Whereas strong immunization systems are critical to ensuring continuous coverage
and sustainability of new and routine immunization programs in
implementing countries;
Whereas Gavi supports the strengthening of health systems and local civil
society organizations to ensure effective immunization and health
services;
Whereas, since 2000, with support from the United States, the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation, UNICEF, the World Health Organization, the World Bank,
implementing countries, donor governments, the private sector, and other
donors and partners, Gavi has supported country-led vaccine roll outs in
77 countries to support the immunization of an additional 440,000,000
children and will avert an estimated 6,000,000 deaths in the world's
poorest countries;
Whereas, in 2013, Gavi was ranked the second most transparent aid program in the
Aid Transparency Index, behind only the Millennium Challenge
Corporation;
Whereas, even with significant contributions by Gavi, only a small percentage of
young children worldwide receive all 11 life-saving vaccines universally
recommended by the World Health Organization;
Whereas vaccines are widely regarded as one of the ``best buys'' in global
health and recognized as one of the most efficient, cost-effective, and
successful health initiatives in history;
Whereas, in 2012, leading experts on health economics ranked childhood
immunization as one of the three most cost-effective solutions to
advance global health;
Whereas, as one of the initial six donors, the United States has been an
important supporter of Gavi and through the generosity of the people of
the United States has contributed almost $1,200,000,000 for the
acquisition of life saving vaccines;
Whereas, at Gavi's first pledging conference in June 2011, the United States
increased its support and pledged $450,000,000 for fiscal years 2012
through 2014 to increase access to new and underused vaccines, including
pneumococcal and rotavirus vaccines;
Whereas, in addition to this three-year pledge, the United States contributed an
additional $90,000,000 to Gavi in fiscal year 2011;
Whereas United States investment in Gavi complements and enhances the
effectiveness of other bilateral and multilateral United States
investments in global health, particularly in child survival;
Whereas Gavi is committed to working with partners, including United States
bilateral programs run by the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), to ensure children in developing nations have access to vaccines
and immunizations;
Whereas, in June 2012, the United States Government, together with the
Governments of Ethiopia and India as well as UNICEF, mobilized the world
around the goal of ending preventable child deaths by 2035;
Whereas access to immunizations is a key component of reaching that goal;
Whereas, in May 2014, at the World Economic Forum meeting in Abuja, Nigeria,
African leaders pledged to increase investment in their countries'
immunization programs by endorsing the Immunise Africa 2020 leaders'
declaration;
Whereas, on May 20, 2014, Gavi called on donors to support an ambitious plan to
immunize an additional 300,000,000 children against potentially fatal
diseases and save an additional 5,000,000 to 6,000,000 lives between
2016 and 2020;
Whereas Gavi needs donors to invest an additional $7,500,000,000 to support
immunization programs in developing countries from 2016 to 2020;
Whereas, at the same time, implementing countries are expected to co-finance an
additional $1,200,000,000, an increase from almost $500,000,000 in 2011
through 2015; and
Whereas, with this support from donors and the global vaccine community, Gavi
can reach its 1,000,000,000th child with critical vaccines by the early
2020s, nearly double the number of lives saved since its founding, and
unlock between $80,000,000,000 and $100,000,000,000 in economic benefits
through health care savings and productivity gains: Now, therefore, be
it
Resolved, That the Senate--
(1) commends Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation, the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund
(UNICEF), the World Health Organization, the World Bank, civil
society, the private sector, faith-based organizations, the
international community, and implementing countries on the
progress that has been made on reducing child mortality through
the increased availability and distribution of vaccines;
(2) affirms the continued support of the people and
Government of the United States for the purchase of vaccines
for the world's poorest countries through Gavi as a cost-
effective, efficient means to reduce child mortality and as a
critical component of meeting the United States goal to end
preventable maternal and child deaths;
(3) supports the ideals and goals of Gavi to--
(A) accelerate equitable uptake and coverage of
vaccines;
(B) improve the effectiveness and efficiency of
immunization delivery;
(C) improve sustainability of national immunization
programs; and
(D) shape markets for vaccines and other
immunization products;
(4) upholds that the United States is a critical donor in
its work with other donors to perform diplomatic outreach in
seeking additional funding for Gavi in order to leverage its
commitment;
(5) recognizes that the United States, in addition to being
an important donor, is a critical technical partner to Gavi,
and the impact of United States investments to Gavi is
leveraged by providing direct technical assistance to
implementing countries and global bodies;
(6) encourages the continued use of United States Agency
for International Development (USAID) maternal and child health
and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) global
immunization resources to strengthen local public health
capacity to introduce and sustain new and underutilized
vaccines, that are supported by Gavi, through routine
immunization systems; and
(7) encourages continued commitment and investment by the
United States Government and international donors, through
Gavi, to the global effort to ensure that children in
developing nations have access to vaccines and immunizations.
Calendar No. 614
113th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. RES. 578
_______________________________________________________________________
RESOLUTION
Supporting the role of the United States in ensuring children in the
world's poorest countries have access to vaccines and immunization
through Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.
_______________________________________________________________________
December 4, 2014
Reported without amendment