The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI), an alliance of the World Health Organisation, has announced that it is giving out a US$1.2 billion subsidy, a milestone payment towards African commercial vaccine manufacturers.
GAVI's Chief Executive Officer, Sania Nishter, further disclosed, on the sidelines of the ongoing 75th session of the WHO's Africa Regional Conference in Lusaka, that starting in January 2026, the organisation would disburse a further US$11.9 billion to the health sector on the continent for direct use by countries they deem fit in a bid to unlock financing.
The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation is renowned for helping to vaccinate more than half the world's children against deadly and debilitating infectious diseases.
The organisation is among many key participants at the 75th World Health Organisation Africa session, which is currently underway in Lusaka.
GAVI also collaborates with various donors, including governments, private sector foundations, corporate partners, NGOs, advocacy groups, professional and community associations, faith-based organisations, academia, and vaccine manufacturers.
This includes organisations in emerging markets, as well as research and technical health institutes and government entities in various countries.
Currently, GAVI is pushing for local vaccine manufacturing in Africa, beyond mere research and development.
"We have taken concrete steps to respond to your honest desire to be sovereign in terms of vaccine manufacturing. Africa was at the back of the line during COVID-19, but that must not happen again. Learning from that, we have put in place what is called the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator. It's a US$1.2 billion subsidy mechanism; the money is in the bank, and it's meant to give milestone payments to African commercial manufacturers," said Nishter.
By improving access to new and underused vaccines for millions of the most vulnerable children in Africa, GAVI is transforming the lives of individuals while helping to boost the economies of lower-income countries and making the world safer for everyone.
"Now that we have secured US$9 billion, the journey continues to secure the next US$3 billion; now it's time to operationalise the strategy through the country's operational model. The first is country centricity. The first of those changes is at the decision-making discretion of countries."
The Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) believes that local manufacturing, when combined with the African Pool Procurement Mechanism, is the most effective approach.
Dr. Jean Kaseya, the Director General of Africa CDC, explained that "We have countries in Africa facing stockouts of medicines, total stockouts. We need to put strong mechanisms in place to avoid these problems in the future. This is why we are engaging our member countries to consider the African pool procurement mechanism as a game changer for us and to never face this issue again."
As part of its mission to save lives and protect people's health by increasing equitable and sustainable use of vaccines, Gavi has helped vaccinate more than 1.1 billion children in 78 lower-income countries, in so doing, preventing more than 18.8 million future deaths.