NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 3 – Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, has reaffirmed its commitment to protecting the world’s most vulnerable children by retaining its ambitious goal of vaccinating 500 million more children over the next five years, even as it faces mounting financial pressures and an increasingly volatile global health landscape.
The commitment was announced following a two-day meeting of Gavi’s Board, which approved key decisions to guide the implementation of its 2026-2030 strategy, known as Gavi 6.0.
The strategy places renewed emphasis on country ownership, health security, support for fragile and humanitarian settings, and strengthening Africa’s vaccine manufacturing capacity.
Despite operating in what it described as a “financially constrained environment,” the Board maintained its ambitious targets of reaching 500 million additional children, preventing between 8 and 9 million deaths, reducing under-five mortality by a further 10 percent, and generating more than US$100 billion in economic benefits over the strategy period.
“The achievements of the past five years show what is possible with sustained financial and political commitment to immunization,” said Gavi Board Chair Helen Clark.
“They also inspire us to tackle the difficult challenges that lay ahead: building resilience in the face of an increasing risk of outbreaks and pandemics and dismantling the systemic barriers that have prevented us from reaching the most vulnerable.”
The Board acknowledged that while Gavi exceeded most of its targets between 2020 and 2025, including expanding vaccine coverage, introducing new vaccines and strengthening vaccine markets, the Alliance fell short in reducing the number of zero-dose children and ensuring equitable access in underserved communities.
Those gaps have now become central priorities under the new strategy.
To help sustain its programmes amid funding uncertainties, the Board approved extending the European Investment Bank’s Frontloading Facility through the end of 2026, allowing Gavi to access up to €500 million, backed by donor commitments, to ensure uninterrupted delivery of immunization programmes.
A major feature of the new strategy is increased country ownership of vaccination programmes.
The Board approved new policies on national vaccine financing and co-financing for preventive immunization campaigns, with additional support directed towards low-income, fragile and humanitarian settings.
Gavi also announced that digital payments will become the preferred method of paying frontline health workers involved in immunization campaigns, a move aimed at reducing payment delays, improving transparency and preventing misuse of funds.
Gavi Chief Executive Officer Dr. Sania Nishtar said the new measures place countries and vulnerable communities at the centre of the Alliance’s operations.
“Through the Gavi Leap, we placed country ownership and support for the most vulnerable at the heart of our operating model, and this week’s Board decisions reaffirm that commitment,” she said.
“I am especially pleased that, going forward, our immunization campaigns will mandate digital payments for health workers. From my experience as a minister, I know this will make a huge difference in terms of eliminating misuse and ensuring workers are paid fairly, and on time.”
Recognizing the growing importance of regional vaccine production, the Board also strengthened its commitment to Africa’s pharmaceutical industry by approving an additional US$189 million for the African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator (AVMA), on top of the existing US$1 billion programme.
Of the new funding, US$139 million will be used to procure vaccines manufactured in Africa, creating stronger market demand while supplementing Gavi’s vaccine procurement budget.
Another US$50 million will support ecosystem development through partnerships with the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the African Medicines Agency (AMA) and the World Health Organization (WHO).
The Board also approved a new resilience package for fragile and humanitarian settings, including up to US$100 million in co-financing waivers for eligible countries and a US$250 million Gavi Resilience Mechanism to respond to unforeseen emergencies, including disease outbreaks not covered by existing vaccine stockpiles.
The meeting also saw several leadership appointments, with Dr. Mekdes Daba named Vice-Chair of the Gavi Board and Chair of the Governance Committee, Henry Gonzalez appointed as an unaffiliated Board member and Chair of the Investment Committee, and Dr. Rana Hajjeh selected to chair the Independent Review Committee.
Since its establishment in 2000, Gavi has helped immunize more than 1.2 billion children and is credited with preventing over 20.6 million future deaths across 78 lower-income countries.