India's Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan nominated to global vaccine alliance GAVI's board

According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has been nominated to be a board member at the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation (GAVI). Dr Harsh Vardhan will be representing the South East Area Regional Office (SEARO)/ Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO) constituency on the GAVI Board from January 1, 2021 until December 31, 2023. At present, the seat is held by Myint Htwe of Myanmar.

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The GAVI Board holds an annual retreat, in March or April and generally meets twice a year, that is in June and November/December. All of these meetings are normally to be attended in person. Dr Ngozi Okonjo-iweala presently serves as Chair of the GAVI Alliance Board. 

The GAVI Board provides a forum for balanced strategic decision making, innovation and partner collaboration with membership drawn from a range of partner organisations, as well as experts from the private sector. The board is responsible for the strategic direction and policy-making oversees the operations of the Vaccine Alliance and monitors programme implementation.

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GAVI, The Vaccine Alliance

The Vaccine Alliance GAVI (Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation) is primarily dedicated to “Immunisation for all”. Its aim is to save lives, reduce poverty and protect the world against the threat of pandemics. Till now it has helped in vaccinating more than 822 million children in the world's poorest countries and has prevented more than 14 million future deaths. 

Amid the COVID-19 outbreak, GAVI has been working in partnership with the World Health Organization (WHO) along with developed and developing countries' vaccine manufacturers on COVAX, an alliance that aims to provide access to COVID vaccines to developing nations. GAVI is working with the manufacturers and the governments to ensure that the COVID-19 vaccines would be available to people across the world irrespective of their incomes. Earlier this year, Dr Harsh Vardhan was elected as the Chair of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) Executive Board.

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On Monday, the Health Minister also launched India's first pneumococcal conjugate vaccine "Pneumosil". The vaccine has been developed by Serum Institute of India Private Limited (SIIPL) in collaboration with partners like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. At the launch he said, "During trials, Pneumosil was found to be safe and effective in the prevention of Pneumonia disease and based on which Pneumosil has been licensed by Drugs Controller General (India) in July 2020 after approval from Subject Expert Committee (SEC)". India is awaiting a nod from the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) for a Covid vaccine, with a number of manufacturers now having submitted their applications for emergency use.

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(with ANI inputs)