04 June 2020 - President Kagame on Thursday joined World leaders including Heads of State and other high-level representatives, from governments and the private sector, civil society and Alliance partners for the Global Vaccine Summit 2020.

hosted by UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, the summit aimed to mobilise additional resources to protect the next generation with vaccines, reduce disease inequality, and create a healthier, safer and more prosperous world.

In his remarks President Kagame applauded GAVI's tremendeous impact on global health, including in Rwanda, whereby thanks to the partnership, the country has achieved 95 percent coverage for the most common vaccine preventable diseases.

The Head of State further noted that while a safe and effective vaccine would end the COVID_19 pandemic, achieving universal coverage requires unprecedented innovation in both scientific and manufacturing capacity.   He therefore stressed the potential role of GAVI in ensuring availabity of vaccines on equitable basis.  

“We cannot allow COVID_19 to do double damage, by slowing our response to the preventable diseases, that cost countless lives each year. Prevent, protect, prosper. With equal access for all. That is our common mission” President Kagame said. 

Participants at the Global Vaccine Summit 2020 have pledged an additional US$ 8.8 billion for Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, far exceeding the target of US$ 7.4 billion. The funding will help immunise 300 million more children in the world’s poorest countries against diseases like measles, polio and diphtheria by the end of 2025. It will also support health systems to withstand the impact of coronavirus and maintain the infrastructure necessary to roll out a future COVID-19 vaccine on a global scale.

Gavi, the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF have warned that 80 million children under the age of one are at risk of disease due to disruptions to vital immunisation programmes because of COVID-19.

• Watch the full speech here