The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) announced today that the U.S. Government will commit $1.16 billion over Fiscal Years 2020-2023 to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, subject to Congressional appropriations. This includes $290 million in the Fiscal Year 2021 President's Budget, released today.

This multi-year commitment will support Gavi's efforts to immunize 300 million additional children by 2025, which will save eight million lives, and help galvanize support from other donors at Gavi's Replenishment Conference in June 2020, hosted by the Government of the United Kingdom. In addition, the U.S. contribution will strengthen routine immunization against outbreak-prone diseases such as measles, and maintain global stockpiles of vaccines against Ebola, cholera, yellow fever, and meningitis.

Launched in 2000, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, brought together the public and private sectors with the shared goal of creating equal access to new and underused vaccines for children in the world's poorest countries. The United States, through USAID, was among the first donors to Gavi, and has contributed funding to the Alliance to vaccinate more than 760 million children around the world over the last 20 years, which has prevented more than 13 million deaths. Immunization is an integral component of USAID's work to prevent child and maternal deaths and combat infectious diseases, both key elements of the Agency's commitment to the Journey to Self-Reliance in our partner countries.

USAID and Gavi share the core values of advancing innovative approaches to meet the world's development needs while fostering increased financial and managerial responsibility at the country level. The U.S. Government's funding for Gavi will leverage unprecedented investments from national governments in developing countries, who, through co-financing and self-funded immunization programs, will contribute an estimated $3.6 billion over the next five years. For more information about this important announcement, visit https://youtu.be/cF8Jg7iyMWw.