Bill Gates pledges $10 billion for vaccines over decade

DAVOS - Bill and Melinda Gates announced Friday a pledge of $10 billion over the next decade for vaccines to the developing world, in an effort to help prevent the deaths of some eight million children.

The announcement was made 10 years after the Gates Foundation made the World Economic Forum in Davos the venue to launch an initial commitment to vaccines, largely through GAVI, an organization focused on immunization.

“We are redoubling our commitment. We spent $4.5 billion …and today we are announcing a commitment over the next decade, which we think of as the decade of vaccines,” Gates, the founder of the software giant Microsoft, told reporters in Davos.

“We will spend over $10 billion on vaccines,” he said.

“This is an amazing announcement,” said Julian Lob-Levyt, the CEO of GAVI, a public-private mixed structure organization.

“GAVI has saved some 5 million children and immunized 250 million in the world’s 72 poorest countries,” Lob-Levyt said.

The vaccine group would receive a cut of the $10 billion, though the exact amount was unclear as the money would be divided between research and groups that deliver the end product.

“We really believe vaccines are great miracle of our lifetime,” said Melinda, estimated that the new donation would save the lives of eight million children in the developing world.

The Gates couple also said they believed a malaria vaccine would be available “in our lifetime”.