IV 
116TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. RES. 861 
Supporting the role of the United States in helping save the lives of children 
and protecting the health of people in poor countries with vaccines 
and immunization through the GAVI Alliance. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
FEBRUARY 21, 2020 
Ms. MCCOLLUM (for herself, Mrs. BROOKS of Indiana, Ms. LEE of California, 
Mr. FITZPATRICK, Mr. SMITH of Washington, and Mr. YOHO) submitted 
the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign 
Affairs 
RESOLUTION 
Supporting the role of the United States in helping save 
the lives of children and protecting the health of people 
in poor countries with vaccines and immunization 
through the GAVI Alliance. 
Whereas, prior to 2000, the distribution of and the resources 
for vaccines for children in the developing world were de-
clining, immunization rates were stagnant or decreasing, 
and nearly 10,000,000 children died each year before 
reaching their 5th birthday; 
Whereas, prior to 2000, it was common for new lifesaving 
vaccines to take up to 15 years to be introduced in the 
world’s poorest countries; 
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Whereas access to routine immunization and vaccines pro-
tects children from deadly but preventable disease and 
contributes to national economic growth and poverty re-
duction by ensuring people live longer, healthier, and 
more productive lives; 
Whereas, in 2000, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the 
United States, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the 
World Health Organization, the World Bank, government 
donors, developing countries, the private sector (including 
the vaccine industry), faith-based organizations, civil soci-
ety, and other partners joined forces to create a public- 
private partnership called the Global Fund for Children’s 
Vaccine (now the GAVI Alliance) in order to expand ac-
cess to new and underused vaccines and support the in-
troduction and scaleup of these vaccines into routine im-
munization systems in the world’s poorest countries; 
Whereas, since 2000, with support from the United States, 
and other donors and partners, the GAVI Alliance has 
supported country-led vaccine initiatives in 73 countries 
to support the immunization of more than 760,000,000 
additional 
children 
and 
will 
avert 
an 
estimated 
13,000,000 deaths in the world’s poorest countries; 
Whereas the financing of vaccines by the GAVI Alliance has 
been a major factor in reducing the number of deaths 
due to vaccine preventable disease by as much as 70 per-
cent since 2000; 
Whereas country ownership and sustainability are at the core 
of the GAVI Alliance model, which requires GAVI-eligible 
countries to contribute domestic financing to a portion of 
their vaccine costs and directly invest in immunizing their 
children; 
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Whereas 73 developing countries working with the GAVI Alli-
ance have cofinanced new and underused vaccines sup-
ported by the GAVI Alliance, more than 18 countries will 
have transitioned from GAVI support by the end of 2020, 
and a further 10 countries (40 percent of the original set 
of GAVI-eligible countries) are projected to transition 
during GAVI’s next strategic cycle between 2021 and 
2025, moving toward fully funding their immunization 
programs; 
Whereas the GAVI Alliance has transformed the market for 
vaccines by matching pooled demand from developing 
countries with secure, predictable financing to make vac-
cines more affordable and supply more reliable, which will 
result in savings of over $900,000,000 from 2021 to 
2025, and encouraging research and development of new 
vaccines; 
Whereas the GAVI Alliance has played a critical role in in-
creasing the number of global vaccine manufacturers sell-
ing to the world’s poorest countries from 5 in 2001 to 
17 in 2018; 
Whereas the GAVI Alliance is poised to provide the most 
comprehensive package of support in the 2021–2025 pe-
riod by financing and delivering 18 vaccines to the 
world’s poorest countries; 
Whereas the GAVI Alliance collaborates with the Global Polio 
Eradication Initiative on the final push to end polio, 
strengthening and bringing the inactivated polio vaccine 
into routine immunization programs; 
Whereas strong programs in health systems are needed to im-
plement additional polio protection; 
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Whereas the GAVI Alliance has made significant progress in 
supporting the development and stockpiling of an effec-
tive vaccine to combat Ebola; 
Whereas the GAVI Alliance is participating in efforts to test 
and implement an effective vaccine to prevent malaria, a 
disease that kills more than 500,000 children a year; 
Whereas the GAVI Alliance supports the strengthening of 
health systems to ensure effective immunization and 
health services; 
Whereas even with significant progress in increasing immuni-
zation coverage through the GAVI Alliance support, 
19,400,000 children annually in lower income countries 
still miss out on a full course of the most basic vaccines; 
Whereas the cumulative effects of population growth, dis-
placement, and increasing fragility, coupled with those of 
recurrent disease outbreaks, are threatening hard-won 
gains and increase the risk of backsliding; 
Whereas outbreaks risk jeopardizing the achievements of na-
tional routine immunization programs, and given the 
enormous increase in human mobility, threaten global 
health security; 
Whereas vaccines are widely regarded as a high-impact, evi-
dence-based intervention and are known as one of the 
‘‘best buys’’ in global health and recognized as one of the 
most efficient, cost-effective, and successful health initia-
tives in history; 
Whereas the prevention of infectious disease through immuni-
zation in GAVI-eligible countries provides protection and 
health security in the United States; 
Whereas United States investment in the GAVI Alliance com-
plements and enhances the effectiveness of other United 
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States investments in global health, particularly in child 
survival; 
Whereas the GAVI Alliance is committed to working with 
partners, including United States bilateral programs run 
by the United States Agency for International Develop-
ment and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
to ensure children in developing nations have access to 
vaccines and immunizations; 
Whereas access to vaccines is an essential part of ending pre-
ventable childhood deaths and preventing other fatal dis-
eases; 
Whereas, in August 2019, the GAVI Alliance called on do-
nors to support an ambitious plan to immunize an addi-
tional 300,000,000 children against potentially fatal dis-
eases between 2021 and 2025, and save an additional 
7,000,000 to 8,000,000 lives; 
Whereas GAVI-eligible countries are expected to contribute 
$3,600,000,000 of their own domestic funding toward 
their vaccine programs in the GAVI Alliance’s 2021– 
2025 strategic period, more than doubling their funding 
from the $1,600,000,000 contributed during the 2015– 
2020 period; 
Whereas the third GAVI replenishment conference will be 
held in June 2020 hosted by the United Kingdom to ob-
tain funding commitments to support the organization’s 
programs from 2021 to 2025; 
Whereas the GAVI Alliance needs donors to invest at least 
an additional $7,400,000,000 for its third replenishment 
cycle to support developing countries’ immunization pro-
grams from 2021 to 2025; 
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Whereas the United States has consistently supported the 
goal of saving lives by contributing to the GAVI Alliance 
to meet its projected replenishment and program goals; 
Whereas the United States has made contributions to the 
GAVI Alliance in the amount of $290,000,000 in each of 
fiscal years 2018 and 2019, and has appropriated this 
amount for fiscal year 2020; 
Whereas with this support and support from other donors, 
the GAVI Alliance will have contributed to saving more 
than 20,000,000 lives by the end of 2025 and unlocked 
between $80,000,000 to $100,000,000 in economic bene-
fits through health care savings and productivity gains; 
and 
Whereas a strong commitment from the United States re-
mains necessary to ensure predictability and stability to 
the vaccine market, to enable strong global health secu-
rity efforts, spur confidence in GAVI-eligible countries, 
and encourage continued innovative vaccine-related ap-
proaches: Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved, That the House of Representatives— 
(1) affirms the United States continued support 
for the purchase of vaccines for developing countries 
through the GAVI Alliance as a cost-effective, effi-
cient means to reduce mortality and as a critical 
component of meeting the United States goal to end 
preventable maternal and child deaths; 
(2) supports the principles and goals of the 
GAVI Alliance to— 
(A) introduce and scale up immunization; 
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(B) improve sustainability of immunization 
programs; 
(C) ensure healthy markets for vaccines 
and related products; and 
(D) strengthen health systems to increase 
equity in immunization; 
(3) recognizes that the United States Govern-
ment support to the GAVI Alliance is a critical com-
ponent to ensuring health security in the United 
States; 
(4) encourages the continued use of United 
States Agency for International Development mater-
nal and child health and Centers for Disease Control 
and Prevention global immunization resources to 
strengthen local public health capacity to introduce 
and sustain new and underutilized vaccines, that are 
supported by the GAVI Alliance, through routine im-
munization systems; 
(5) recognizes the need for multiyear pledges 
from the United States to allow GAVI to maximize 
its impact to provide lifesaving vaccines and to lever-
age contributions from other countries and donors; 
and 
(6) encourages continued commitment and in-
vestment at least at the current appropriated fund-
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ing level by the United States Government to the 
GAVI Alliance in the 2021–2025 GAVI Alliance 
strategic period in order to ensure that lives are pro-
tected and saved through access to vaccines and im-
munizations. 
Æ 
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