MSF Calling for Scale-Up of Vaccination

MEDIA ADVISORY

Médecins Sans Frontières at the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) Alliance ‘Partners’ Forum’ Vaccination Conference, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 5-7 December 2012

“There’s no reason children should still be dying of vaccine-preventable diseases. The global vaccines community could be doing a lot better to make sure all babies in developing countries are fully vaccinated against killer diseases. We need vaccines that are easier to use in hard-to-reach places.”
Dr. Manica Balasegaram, Executive Director, Médecins Sans Frontières Access Campaign

Médecins Sans Frontières is deeply concerned that the current global vaccination strategy is not paying enough attention to reaching the one in five babies born each year that continue to go without the very basic vaccination package. Médecins Sans Frontières sees the direct effect of the failures in basic vaccination when massive outbreaks of vaccine-preventable diseases emerge in places where we work. In 2010 in the Democratic Republic of Congo alone, Médecins Sans Frontières vaccinated more than four million people for measles in response to outbreaks that would not be happening if routine immunization were working well. The global number of babies not fully vaccinated rose from 19 million in 2010 to 22.4 million in 2012—there’s an urgent need to address this situation.

The approach being taken in the vaccines blueprint being launched for the next ten years—the ‘Global Vaccine Action Plan’ and ‘Decade of Vaccines’—does not adequately emphasise the need to strengthen basic immunisation. Developing vaccines that are better adapted to reach children in remote or unstable locations—vaccines that do not require refrigeration, do not require needles, and that can be given in fewer doses—is not being prioritised enough. Better products are needed to alleviate the growing number of un-immunised children. GAVI should play a role in the development of adapted products, but to date, it has not done so.

Additionally, GAVI is not paying enough attention to getting vaccine prices down in its effort to introduce new vaccines, such as for pneumococcal disease and rotavirus. This could have a devastating impact on countries’ immunisation programmes once donor support through GAVI tapers off. Honduras, for example, will face a nearly 1,000% price increase to vaccinate a child with these two new vaccines when the country loses donor funding in 2015. The vaccines blueprint is not making a serious effort to address the issue of high prices.

Three new ISSUE BRIEFS outlining Médecins Sans Frontières’ main concerns regarding the need for adapted vaccines, the need to bring vaccine prices down, and the need to address vaccine supply problems, can be accessed at: www.msfaccess.org/briefings

Médecins Sans Frontières will have spokespeople available at the GAVI Partners Forum, and will be speaking at the following sessions:

Building resilience in fragile states
Dr. Myriam Henkens, Medical Coordinator, Médecins Sans Frontières International
Kibo 3—Thursday 6 December 15:00

The role of technology transfer in sustainable access to vaccine innovation
Dr. Manica Balasegaram, Executive Director, Médecins Sans Frontières Access Campaign
Kibo 3—Friday 7 December 14:30

Médecins Sans Frontières Spokespeople on site:
Kate Elder, Vaccines Policy Advisor, Médecins Sans Frontières Access Campaign
Dr. Manica Balasegaram, Executive Director, Médecins Sans Frontières Access Campaign
Dr. Florence Fermon, Médecins Sans Frontières Vaccines Working Group Leader
Dr. Myrian Henkens, Medical Coordinator, Médecins Sans Frontières International

ENDS

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