[Congressional Bills 116th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 861 Introduced in House (IH)]

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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 declining, 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;
Whereas access to routine immunization and vaccines protects children from 
        deadly but preventable disease and contributes to national economic 
        growth and poverty reduction 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 
        society, 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 access to new and underused vaccines and 
        support the introduction and scaleup of these vaccines into routine 
        immunization 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 percent 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;
Whereas 73 developing countries working with the GAVI Alliance have cofinanced 
        new and underused vaccines supported 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 vaccines 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 increasing the number of 
        global vaccine manufacturers selling 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 period 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 implement additional 
        polio protection;
Whereas the GAVI Alliance has made significant progress in supporting the 
        development and stockpiling of an effective 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 immunization 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, displacement, 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 national routine 
        immunization programs, and given the enormous increase in human 
        mobility, threaten global health security;
Whereas vaccines are widely regarded as a high-impact, evidence-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 initiatives in history;
Whereas the prevention of infectious disease through immunization in GAVI-
        eligible countries provides protection and health security in the United 
        States;
Whereas United States investment in the GAVI Alliance complements and enhances 
        the effectiveness of other United 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 Development 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 preventable childhood 
        deaths and preventing other fatal diseases;
Whereas, in August 2019, the GAVI Alliance called on donors to support an 
        ambitious plan to immunize an additional 300,000,000 children against 
        potentially fatal diseases 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 obtain 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 programs from 2021 to 2025;
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 benefits 
        through health care savings and productivity gains; and
Whereas a strong commitment from the United States remains necessary to ensure 
        predictability and stability to the vaccine market, to enable strong 
        global health security efforts, spur confidence in GAVI-eligible 
        countries, and encourage continued innovative vaccine-related 
        approaches: 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, efficient 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;
                    (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 Government support to 
        the GAVI Alliance is a critical component to ensuring health 
        security in the United States;
            (4) encourages the continued use of United States Agency 
        for International Development maternal 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 immunization 
        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 leverage contributions from other 
        countries and donors; and
            (6) encourages continued commitment and investment at least 
        at the current appropriated funding 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 protected 
        and saved through access to vaccines and immunizations.
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