119-hres848

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 848 Introduced in House

    (IH) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
H. RES. 848

 Supporting the role of the United States in helping save the lives of 
 children and protecting the health of people in low-income countries 
 with vaccines and immunization through Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance 
 (``Gavi'').

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

 October 31, 2025

 Mr. Kean (for himself, Mr. Amo, Ms. Salazar, Mr. Fitzpatrick, and Mr. 
 Lawler) 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 low-income countries 
 with vaccines and immunization through Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance 
 (``Gavi'').

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 most impoverished countries;
Whereas, access to routine immunization and vaccines protects children from 
 deadly but preventable diseases and contributes to national economic 
 growth and poverty reduction by ensuring people live longer, healthier, 
 and more productive lives;
Whereas, in 2000, the United States, the United Nations Children's Fund

    (UNICEF) , the World Health Organization

    (WHO) , the World Bank, 
 government donors, lower-income country governments, foundations 
 (including the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation), the private sector 
 (including the vaccine industry), faith-based organizations, civil 
 society, and other partners joined forces to create a public-private 
 partnership now known as Gavi, the Vaccine 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 most impoverished countries;
Whereas, from 2000 through 2023, with support from the United States, and other 
 donors and partners, Gavi has supported country-led vaccine initiatives 
 in 78 countries to support the immunization of more than 1,100,000,000 
 additional children and averted an estimated 18,800,000 deaths in the 
 world's most impoverished countries;
Whereas Gavi has been a major contributor in reducing the number of childhood 
 deaths in lower-income countries due to vaccine-preventable disease by 
 70 percent since 2000;
Whereas country ownership and sustainability are at the core of the Gavi model, 
 which requires Gavi-eligible countries to contribute to a portion of 
 vaccine costs and directly invest in immunizing children, and Gavi-
 supported countries contributed more than $1,700,000,000 to immunization 
 campaigns between 2008 and 2023;
Whereas 78 low-income countries currently provide co-financing for new and 
 underused vaccines supported by Gavi, more than 19 countries have 
 transitioned from Gavi support by the end of 2022, and an additional 10 
 countries may transition by 2040, moving toward fully funding their 
 immunization programs;
Whereas Gavi has transformed the market for vaccines by matching pooled demand 
 from low-income countries with secure, predictable financing to make 
 vaccines more affordable and supply more reliable, reducing the price of 
 the most common vaccines by 24 percent from 2015 to 2020 and increasing 
 the number of global vaccine manufacturers selling pre-qualified Gavi-
 supported vaccines to the world's most impoverished countries from 5 in 
 2001 to 19 in 2023;
Whereas Gavi estimates that its market shaping efforts will result in savings of 
 over $900,000,000 from 2021 to 2025 and may encourage research and 
 development of new vaccines;
Whereas Gavi is poised to provide the most comprehensive package of support in 
 the 2021 to 2025 period by financing and delivering 18 vaccines to the 
 world's most impoverished countries;
Whereas Gavi is collaborating with the Global Polio Eradication Initiative on 
 the final push to end polio, and expanding the integration of the 
 inactivated polio vaccine into routine immunization programs;
Whereas Gavi has made significant progress in supporting the development and 
 stockpiling of effective vaccines to combat cholera, measles, 
 meningococcal, yellow fever, and Ebola, which could also protect 
 Americans in the event of an outbreak on United States soil;
Whereas malaria is one of most long-standing and deadliest diseases in Africa, 
 and in 2022, malaria killed an estimated 580,000 children in Africa, 78 
 percent of whom were children under five;
Whereas Gavi has begun deliveries of new malaria vaccines and will expand the 
 program to dozens of countries as vaccine supply becomes available;
Whereas Gavi allocated 18,000,000 doses of the malaria vaccine RTS,S in 2023 and 
 2024, the World Health Organization estimates that at least 40,000,000 
 to 60,000,000 doses will be needed annually by 2026 and 80,000,000 to 
 100,000,000 doses will be needed by 2030;
Whereas Gavi is supporting expanded procurement, access, and implementation of 
 new malaria vaccine programs to help meet rising demand;
Whereas data from malaria vaccine trials indicate that these vaccines can save 
 one life for every 200 children vaccinated, with the potential for 
 significantly impacting public health and saving tens of thousands of 
 lives annually;
Whereas Gavi supports the strengthening of health systems to ensure effective 
 immunization and health services, including through the provision of 
 cold chain equipment that can also be effectively repurposed for 
 emergency response, as was demonstrated during the COVID-19 pandemic;
Whereas, through COVAX, Gavi and global partners delivered nearly 2,000,000,000 
 doses of COVID-19 vaccines to 146 economies, and averted an estimated 
 2,700,000 deaths in Advance Market Commitment lower-income participating 
 economies;
Whereas Gavi provided additional vaccine support to address health service 
 interruptions that occurred during the COVID-19 pandemic and contributed 
 to the largest backslide in routine childhood immunization in 30 years, 
 and focused on the 14,000,000 ``zero-dose'' children in Gavi-supported 
 countries who had not received a single vaccine;
Whereas vaccine programs are widely regarded as high-impact, evidence-based 
 interventions and are among the most efficient, cost-effective, and 
 successful health initiatives in history, returning over $54 in health 
 and economic savings for every $1 invested in Gavi-supported countries;
Whereas the prevention of infectious disease through immunization in Gavi-
 eligible countries provides protection and health security in the United 
 States by reducing the prevalence of infectious diseases and stemming 
 outbreaks at their source;
Whereas United States investment in Gavi complements and enhances the 
 effectiveness of other United States investments in global health, 
 particularly in maternal and child health and nutrition;
Whereas Gavi is committed to working with partners, including United States 
 bilateral programs administrated by the Department of State and the 
 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (``CDC''), to ensure children 
 in developing nations have access to lifesaving vaccines and 
 immunizations;
Whereas Gavi's next strategic cycle will cover the strategic period of 2026 to 
 2030, which will include the expansion of Gavi's malaria program with 
 plans to provide 50,000,000 doses to children in Gavi-supported 
 countries;
Whereas the United States has consistently supported the goal of saving lives by 
 contributing annually to Gavi to meet its projected replenishment and 
 program goals;
Whereas, with this support and support from other donors, Gavi contributed 
 $250,000,000,000 in economic benefits in Gavi countries as of 2023, with 
 each $1 invested yielding $54 return on investment; and
Whereas an increased 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 continued support of the United States 
 Government for the purchase of vaccines for low-income 
 countries through Gavi as a cost-effective, efficient means to 
 reduce mortality and as a critical component of meeting the 
 United States goal to end preventable child and maternal 
 deaths;

    (2) supports the principles and goals of Gavi to--
        (A) introduce and scale up new and routine 
 immunizations in low-income countries;
        (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 United States Government support for 
 Gavi is a critical component to ensuring health security in the 
 United States;

    (4) encourages the continued use of Department of State 
 maternal and child health and CDC global immunization resources 
 to strengthen local public health capacity to introduce and 
 sustain new and underutilized vaccines supported by Gavi 
 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 increased commitment and 
 investment by the United States Government to Gavi in the 2026 
 to 2030 strategic period in order to ensure that lives are 
 protected and saved through access to vaccines and 
 immunizations.
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