£Billions pledged for vaccines???

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Sheri

World digs deep to boost fight against disease By

nce, Health Editor

Tuesday, 14 June 2011 The Independent

AFP/Getty

A child is vaccinated against pneumonia at a health centre in

Managua, Nicaragua

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World leaders exceeded expectations yesterday by pledging an

extra $4.3bn (£2.6bn) over the next five years to deliver new and under

used vaccines to the poorest countries of the world – but had to defend

their generosity against critics who complained the money should have

been spent at home.

The sum raised was $600m (£370m) more than the target set by the Global

Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI) to the delight of

campaigners who said it will enable millions more children to be

protected against diseases including diarrhoea and pneumonia.

Cameron's commitment to increase Britain's contribution by $1.3bn

(£814m) set a benchmark for other donors. But it came under fire from the

Tory backbenches and the public who said it should have been used to

protect British citizens against the effects of the economic whirlwind in

the UK.

The Prime Minister acknowledged the decision was controversial – part of

raising the UK's contribution to overseas aid to 0.7 per cent of national

income by 2013 – but insisted it could not be put off until times were

better. " We can't afford to wait. How many minutes do we wait? Three

children die every minute from pneumonia alone. Waiting is not the right

thing to do, " he said

In response, bloggers besieged websites to complain children were being

saved " to grow up in drought, famine and poverty " in a world

that had too little food, water and other resources to sustain them and

that the money should have been spent on family planning. " Where is

the food/water/schooling to make their lives worthwhile? And where is the

food/water to come from with finite resources? " said one.

Others alleged GAVI was an elaborate conspiracy to boost the profits of

Big Pharma, that vaccines were tainted and that corrupt government's

filtered off aid money for their own purposes. " Foreign aid is

simply the poor people in rich countries giving money to the rich people

in poor countries, " said one.

The attacks explain ministers' nervousness about the reaction to the UK's

stance in advance of yesterday's meeting. Charities paid tribute to the

principled stand taken by Mr Cameron and Bill Gates, the Microsoft

founder and philanthropist, who pledged an additional $1bn from his

foundation.

" Today is a huge victory for mothers and children around the

world, " said Drummond, executive director of ONE, the

anti-poverty campaign group. " Cameron and Bill Gates should

both be proud of their moral leadership and generosity that has helped

secure this result. "

Simon , head of health at Save the Children, said: " We knew

the Government was going to make a big pledge but we didn't know how big

it was. The amount was huge – Britain has always been the biggest donor

to GAVI. "

Pharmaceutical companies had a right to recoup the cost of their

investment but the price of vaccines " needs to be very low for the

the poorest countries to be sustainable " , he said.

Mr Gates defended GAVI's purchasing system and said he was always careful

not to pay more than he had to. " I'm not going to spend any money

that isn't directly going to help these poor children, " he said.

" I feel great about the prices we've got. "

The leading Gavi donors

* The Global Alliance on Vaccines (GAVI) and Immunisation had asked world

leaders and leading foundations to contribute $3.7bn (£2.3bn) to help

vaccinate children against preventable diseases but pledges announced

yesterday totalled $4.3bn (£2.6m).

The UK topped the table of donors, promising $1.3bn (£814m) in addition

to the £680m it had already pledged by 2015.

1 United Kingdom: $1.3bn (£814)

2 Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: $1bn (£613m)

3 Norway: $677m (£415m)

4 United States: $450m (£276m)

5 Sweden: $201m (£123m)

6 Netherlands: $175m (£107m)

7 Australia: $149 (£91m)

8 France: $146m (£90m)

9 Germany: $73m (£45m)

10 HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi: $33m

(£20m)

11 Italy: $25m (£15m)

12 Denmark: $19m (£12m)

13= Canada: $15m (£9m)

13= European Commission: $15m (£9m)

15 Brazil: $12m (£7m)

Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian

Homeopath

Vaccination Information & Choice Network, Washington State, USA

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