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Bulk-buying of vaccines by Gavi, the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation, is helping to force down the price of the pentavalent combination treatment.
It reports that a recent purchase by alliance member Unicef has pushed the weighted average price for 2010 below £1.79 ($3) per dose, 30p less than the 2009 price.
This will save the alliance $55 million next year and enable it to finance the immunisation of 6.3 million more children, says CEO Dr Julian Lob-Levyt.
He was speaking at the Gavi partners’ Forum in Hanoi attended by ministers of health, donors, civil society and industry representatives, researchers and development experts.
He said: “This is the Gavi effect: encouraging and pooling growing demand from countries, attracting new manufacturers and increasing competition to drive down prices.
He said that pentavalent will be the single biggest expenditure through to 2015, and that “price is the major determinant of the future support that Gavi will be able to provide to countries.”
Copyright Press Association 2009
