Canada Pledges $129M to Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunizations

Canada has made a one-year pledge of $129 million to the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunization, which plans to use the money to strengthen vaccine efforts in developing countries, the organization announced on Feb. 24, the AP/Canada.com reports. "We are enormously grateful to Canada for this generous contribution," GAVI Executive Secretary Dr. Julian Lob-Levyt said, adding that the funds will help the alliance deliver vaccines to children in the world's poorest countries. Approximately two million people mainly in developing countries die annually from vaccine-preventable diseases, including tuberculosis, measles, hepatitis B and diptheria. According to World Health Organization Director-General and GAVI Chair Dr. Jong-Wook Lee, Canada's contribution, "along with other recent substantial contributions, will enable us to vaccinate many more of these unreached kids and give them the healthy start in life they are entitled to" (AP/Canada.com, 2/25).