Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Manufacturing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) investments in developing and deploying vaccines, and helping to strengthen health systems, can enhance global health security by reducing the incidence of, and protecting children from, preventable diseases, enabling them to live longer and healthier lives, and contributing to poverty reduction,

  (ii) in 2000, governments of many countries, and multilateral health organisations and philanthropic organisations created Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance (Gavi), a public-private partnership to expand access to new and underused childhood vaccines, reduce the incidence of deadly and debilitating diseases, prevent epidemics and save lives,

  (iii) since 2000, Gavi has supported country-led vaccine programs in 73 countries (16 of them in our region), enabled immunisation of at least 760 million children, helped avert an estimated 13 million deaths, and contributed to a 70 percent reduction in the number of deaths globally due to vaccine-preventable diseases,

  (iv) Gavi has pooled vaccine demand from implementing countries — expanding the global supplier base for vaccines, enhancing the competitiveness and security of vaccine supply chains, and creating efficiencies expected to achieve an estimated $US 900 million in savings, which can help accelerate access to vaccines between 2021 and 2025, and

  (v) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gavi has allowed implementing countries to reallocate up to 10% of their health support funding to domestic COVID-related needs, and has also launched COVAX, an innovative finance mechanism that will provide access to any vaccine against COVID-19 in the countries where Gavi works – an important first step in ensuring equitable access to a vaccine, and a role similar to the one Gavi played in the development and distribution of an Ebola vaccine; and

(b) acknowledges that:

  (i) on 4 June 2020, the United Kingdom hosted Gavi's third replenishment, the Global Vaccine Summit, with an ambitious goal to raise $US7.4 billion in new donor commitments,

  (ii) with this renewal of resources, Gavi plans to support the immunisation of 300 million more children against potentially fatal diseases and save an additional 7 million to 8 million lives between 2021 and 2025,

  (iii) at the Summit, Australia, which has been a consistent contributor to Gavi since 2006, stepped up with a pledge of AU$300 million, a 20% increase on our previous pledge, which will support improved access to vaccines throughout our region, and

  (iv) the Global Vaccine Summit raised an impressive total of US$8.8 billion in pledges, which will save lives, reduce poverty and protect against the threat of epidemics globally over the next five years, adding to the US$150 billion in economic benefits already derived from Gavi-supported vaccines in participating countries since 2000.

Question agreed to.