Ministers of Finance Sign on to Advance Market Commitment for Pneumococcal Vaccine

At a ceremony today in Lecce, Italy, the governments of Italy, the United Kingdom, Canada, Russia and Norway, together with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation made good on a commitment announced in February of 2007 to contribute $1.5 billion to the Advance Market Commitment (AMC) for pneumococcal vaccines. Held in conjunction with the G8 Finance Ministers Meeting, the ceremony saw Ministers of Finance from the donor countries, together with the Gates Foundation, GAVI Alliance, World Bank, UNICEF and WHO sign the finalized terms of the AMC, effectively activating the implementation phase of this innovative financing mechanism.

Financing made available by donors today through the AMC will be used to help low-income countries implement a sustainable national pneumococcal immunization program.  The terms of the AMC will ensure pre-established, long-term affordable pricing for childhood pneumococcal vaccines and the quality standards of products which could be eligible to be purchased under the AMC. Funding through the AMC for national pneumococcal immunization programs in the world’s poorest countries could help to prevent the deaths of more than 7 million children by 2030 and bring countries much closer to meeting Millennium Development Goal #4 (to reduce deaths in children under 5 years of age by two thirds by 2015).

Pneumococcal disease is the number one vaccine preventable killer of children in the world and today's announcement is further evidence that innovative public-private partnerships can indeed make a global, lifesaving impact.  The PneumoADIP at Johns Hopkins is proud to have been a part of the AMC process and congratulates all the partners who have worked the past two years to bring the AMC to life.

For more information on pneumococcal disease and the vaccines to prevent it, visit our website: www.preventpneumo.org or the AMC website, www.vaccineamc.org