Government of India partners with Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance

Gavi will provide up to $500 million between 2016 and 2021 to support India’s immunisation programme

The Government of India and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, have announced a partnership that will help save the lives of millions of Indian children through increased access to vaccines. India is due to begin transitioning away from Gavi support from 2017 and is expected to begin fully self-financing all its vaccine programmes by 2021.

Under the partnership strategy, Gavi will provide up to $500 million between 2016 and 2021 to support India’s immunisation programme, after which India will completely transition out of Gavi support. The new partnership will accelerate the introduction of modern, highly-efficacious vaccines in India, protecting children against the leading causes of disease, including pneumonia and severe diarrhoea.

Support will also be made available for the measles-rubella combined vaccine.
Gavi will also provide future assistance for India to introduce the human papillomavirus vaccine, should the Government approves its introduction.

Through this new partnership Gavi-supported vaccines administered between 2016 and 2021 are expected to prevent several hundred thousand deaths. Gavi support will also help towards this goal and help engage with a broader community of stakeholders within India.

Gavi and its partners will provide targeted support to help India’s immunisation system identify and reach children who are not receiving vaccines, including exploring how India’s vast number of polio workers can support uptake of other routine vaccines, such as the 5-in1 pentavalent vaccine and these new vaccines.

Currently 60 per cent of all Gavi-procured vaccines are manufactured in India. Through the partnership, Gavi and the Government of India will work more closely together to help create a more sustainable global and domestic vaccine manufacturing base within India. This will be crucial to ensuring sufficient vaccine supplies are available for the 27 million children born in India every year, and children living in all 72 other Gavi-supported countries.