Germany is to provide 600 million euros over the next five years for Gavi – the Vaccine Alliance, in order to strengthen health infrastructure and vaccinate another 300 million children against dangerous diseases. Chancellor Angela Merkel made the announcement at the Global Vaccine Summit.

The coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated once again that we need international cooperation at all levels, stressed Angela Merkel. It is still unclear when we will have a vaccine against COVID-19. It is, however, clear that once a vaccine is available, billions of doses will be needed. And these should ideally be available to everybody. "Vaccines save lives, and the availability of vaccines should not depend on which country you live in. Affordable, readily available and freely accessible vaccines must be ready for use everywhere in the world," said Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Gavi - for worldwide vaccination programmes

The Global Vaccine Summit, which was hosted by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson marks the start of efforts to put in place now the structures needed for a global vaccination campaign. The call to the Global Vaccination Summit on 4 June stated, "Vaccinations are indispensable in order to protect health and prosperity. Every individual must be protected, or nobody is protected. We can move forward faster and further if we move forward together – and that is why we need an alliance." The focus of this year’s pledging conference of the Vaccine Alliance for the period 2021 to 2025 is the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chancellor Angela Merkel also announced that Germany will be investing another100 million euros through Gavi in stemming the COVID-19 pandemic. Other states too intend to extend their engagement, so as to provide Gavi with at least 7.4 billion US dollars for the period 2021-2025. "Together we can eliminate the horrors of infectious diseases," declared Angela Merkel.

When the G20 created Gavi 20 years ago, they did so in the awareness that vaccinations offer the best protection against diseases. Gavi can look back on many achievements over the intervening period, making it the ideal partner for realising future vaccination programmes against COVID-19.
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) has supported the work of Gavi since 2006. Over the period 2016 to 2020, a total of 600 million euros will be made available, making the Federal Republic of Germany Gavi’s fourth largest national donor.