Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,
Thank you for the opportunity to speak today, and I’d especially like to thank the United Kingdom for hosting this event, and Prime Minister Boris Johnson for his leadership in this vital area of public health.
This year marks 40 years since smallpox became the first – and to date the only – human disease to be eradicated.
This towering public health achievement was only possible because of the world’s first vaccine, developed by Edward Jenner in 1796.
Dr Jenner gave birth to one of the most powerful tools in the history of medicine.
Thanks to vaccines, hundreds of millions of deaths have been prevented.
Polio has been pushed to the brink of eradication, and just in the past few years new vaccines have become available for Ebola and malaria.
But all this progress is under threat.
The COVID-19 pandemic is unravelling many of the gains we have made.
Vaccination campaigns for polio, cholera, measles, meningitis and HPV have been disrupted, putting hundreds of millions of people at risk.
Additionally, 80 million children are at risk of missing out on routine vaccines for tuberculosis, pneumonia and diarrhea.
A vaccine will be essential for controlling COVID-19.
But vaccines only realize their true power when they are deployed to protect the poorest and most vulnerable.
That’s why WHO and our partners have established the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator and the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool.
Our shared duty is to ensure that once a vaccine is available, it is available to everyone.
The immunization infrastructure that the Gavi Alliance has helped build over the past 20 years will be essential for fulfilling that duty.
COVID-19 is a devastating reminder that life is fragile, and that in our global village, our individual health depends on our collective health.
Smallpox was not ended by a vaccine alone. There was one other key ingredient: solidarity.
Now is the moment for the world to come together in solidarity to realize the power of vaccines for everyone.
Now is the moment for all of us to fully fund Gavi to ensure it continues to prevent, protect and prosper.
I thank you.