GAVI Alliance
pledging conference for immunisation held on 13 June 2011 in London
Dr. Cyrus Poonawalla, chairman and
managing director of Serum Institute of India (SII) on the
occasion of the pledging conference by the Global Alliance for
Vaccines and Immunisation industry (GAVI) held in London made a
commitment to cut the price of its penta-valent vaccine by 60 %
and make it available to the world community at US$ 1.75 (about
Rs. 100) per dose - the lowest possible cost in the world.
Making this announcement in the presence of Microsoft founder
Bill Gates and British Prime Minister David Cameron who attended
the pledging conference, Dr. Poonawalla said that “"the very
genesis of Serum Institute was a quest to make
Dr. Cyrus Poonawalla along with British
Prime Minister David Cameron & Bill Gates at the GAVI pledging
conference held in London.
vaccines more affordable for the common man
and that the mission to further children's health in developing
countries has been at the heart of the institutes business model
right from when we started manufacturing life-saving vaccines at the
lowest affordable prices and providing them to UNICEF and PAHO”.
"While we recognise our moral responsibility to keep these
vaccines affordable, I strongly believe that it is appropriate
for other manufacturers, especially the big pharma companies to
also follow our lead and make vaccines available at more
affordable prices; otherwise our effort to offer vaccines at
lower prices will be defeated," he added.
“Over the last 20 years, we have established ourselves as the
most reliable and largest WHO pre-qualified vaccine producer in
the world for the measles and measles-rubella combined vaccines,
and the diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus and hepatitis-B combined
vaccine. These vaccines have been offered approximately at the
cost of a cup of tea to UN agencies, GAVI and other countries,
especially India. Recently, we have donated about 12 million
doses of the measles-rubella vaccine to countries such as Laos
and Uzbekistan and supplied 18.5 million doses at a 50 per cent
discounted rate to the Philippines in conjunction with the
WHO/UNICEF”, Poonawalla said.
Over the last eight years, the Serum Institute has worked with
partners to develop a new meningitis A vaccine for outbreaks in
the sub-Saharan region. Based on a new conjugate technology, the
vaccine has the potential to provide long-lasting protection
against the disease. Already, several million doses have been
successfully used in the region at less than 50 cents per dose.
Dr. Poonawalla called on global donors to ensure long term
funding beyond 2015, and urged them to consider the boons of
vaccination for children in the most vulnerable countries. Serum
Institute, which exports to 130 nations is also developing
affordable rotavirus and pneumococcal vaccines for GAVI and
expects to get WHO approval for these.
“For the first time in history, children in developing countries
will receive the same vaccines against diarrhoea and pneumonia
as children in rich countries,” said Bill Gates, co-chair of the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. “Together we must do more to
ensure that all children – no matter where they live – have
equal access to life-saving vaccines.”
The GAVI Alliance is a Geneva-based public-private partnership
aimed at improving health in the world’s poorest countries. The
Alliance brings together developing country and donor
governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World
Bank, the vaccine industry in both industrialised and developing
countries, research and technical agencies, civil society, the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private
philanthropists.