Gates Foundation Pledges $10B For Vaccines
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will donate $10 billion over the next decade to research new vaccines and bring them to the world's poorest countries, according to the Associated Press. The Microsoft co-founder and his wife - who made the announcement at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland - called upon governments and business to also contribute, with the aim of immunizing 90 percent of the children in poorer nations against dangerous diseases such as diarrhea and pneumonia. "We must make this the decade of vaccines," Bill Gates said in a statement. "Vaccines already save and improve millions of lives in developing countries. Innovation will make it possible to save more children than ever before."
Gates said the commitment more than doubles the $4.5 billion the foundation has given to vaccine research over the years. The foundation said up to 7.6 million children under 5 could be saved through 2019 as a result of the donation. It also estimates that an additional 1.1 million kids would be saved if a malaria vaccine can be introduced by 2014. A tuberculosis vaccine would prevent even more deaths, the foundation added.
Margaret Chan, head of the World Health Organization, called the Gates contribution unprecedented and urged governments and private donors to add to the initiative. "An additional two million deaths in children under five years could be prevented by 2015 through widespread use of new vaccines and a 10 percent increase in global vaccination coverage," said Chan.
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