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; VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Feb 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR861.IH HR861 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •HRES 861 IH 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; VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Feb 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR861.IH HR861 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •HRES 861 IH 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; VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Feb 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR861.IH HR861 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •HRES 861 IH 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 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Feb 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR861.IH HR861 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 5 •HRES 861 IH 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; VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Feb 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6300 E:\BILLS\HR861.IH HR861 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 6 •HRES 861 IH 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 (1) affirms the United States continued support 2 for the purchase of vaccines for developing countries 3 through the GAVI Alliance as a cost-effective, effi- 4 cient means to reduce mortality and as a critical 5 component of meeting the United States goal to end 6 preventable maternal and child deaths; 7 (2) supports the principles and goals of the 8 GAVI Alliance to— 9 (A) introduce and scale up immunization; 10 VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:08 Feb 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR861.IH HR861 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 7 •HRES 861 IH (B) improve sustainability of immunization 1 programs; 2 (C) ensure healthy markets for vaccines 3 and related products; and 4 (D) strengthen health systems to increase 5 equity in immunization; 6 (3) recognizes that the United States Govern- 7 ment support to the GAVI Alliance is a critical com- 8 ponent to ensuring health security in the United 9 States; 10 (4) encourages the continued use of United 11 States Agency for International Development mater- 12 nal and child health and Centers for Disease Control 13 and Prevention global immunization resources to 14 strengthen local public health capacity to introduce 15 and sustain new and underutilized vaccines, that are 16 supported by the GAVI Alliance, through routine im- 17 munization systems; 18 (5) recognizes the need for multiyear pledges 19 from the United States to allow GAVI to maximize 20 its impact to provide lifesaving vaccines and to lever- 21 age contributions from other countries and donors; 22 and 23 (6) encourages continued commitment and in- 24 vestment at least at the current appropriated fund- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Feb 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\HR861.IH HR861 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS 8 •HRES 861 IH ing level by the United States Government to the 1 GAVI Alliance in the 2021–2025 GAVI Alliance 2 strategic period in order to ensure that lives are pro- 3 tected and saved through access to vaccines and im- 4 munizations. 5 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 22:24 Feb 21, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\HR861.IH HR861 pamtmann on DSKBC07HB2PROD with BILLS