The Minister for Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation, José Manuel Albares, opened the Global Vaccine Impact Conference in Madrid today, which assesses the state of global vaccination and sets targets for the coming years.
The Global Vaccine Impact Conference takes place every 5 years and in its 2023 edition is organised for the first time by the Spanish Government and GAVI (Vaccine Alliance). It convenes from today until 15 June to look at the progress of this Alliance in terms of guaranteeing access for the population of 57 low-income countries to vaccines that can contribute to reducing mortality.
This new edition, hosted by Madrid, brings together 17 Health Ministers as well as senior officials from GAVI’s partner countries. In total, approximately 300 attendees will participate in the conference, representing Government, civil society, the private sector, Vaccine Alliance partners and other global health stakeholders.
Co-chaired by Prof. José Manuel Barroso, GAVI Board Chair, the conference opened with an inaugural address by the Spanish Minister for Foreign Affairs, in which he emphasised that “Spain considers Global Health a priority to achieve human development and the well-being of our societies”, followed by addresses by Seth Berkley, CEO, GAVI; Tedros Ghebreyesus, Director-General, WHO (video appearance); and Catherine Russell, Executive Director, UNICEF.
Conference sessions will focus on how GAVI is progressing towards its global vaccination goals; the importance of partnership with the private sector; emerging immunisation priorities such as for HPV and malaria; and how the Alliance can help fight climate change.
The Global Vaccine Impact Conference is the first in-person conference on the state of global vaccination since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. It saw the publication of a new report, Raising Generation ImmUnity, on progress made since 2020 on immunisation goals – including new statistics pointing to a worldwide recovery in routine immunisation in 2022.
Vaccine Alliance
GAVI, the Vaccine Alliance, is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate nearly half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases. The Vaccine Alliance brings together developing country and donor governments, the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the World Bank, the vaccine industry, technical agencies, civil society, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and other private sector partners.
Since its inception in 2000, GAVI has helped to immunise a whole generation – over 1 billion children – and has helped prevent more than 16.2 million child deaths, cutting them by more than half in 73 low-income countries. After two decades of progress, GAVI is now focused on protecting the next generation, and especially the "zero-dose" children - those who have never been vaccinated.
Spain became a GAVI donor in 2006, as one of the six original IFFIM (International Finance Facility for Immunisation) partners, and is a major donor to this innovative financing mechanism, with a total commitment of €290 million.