Serum Institute of India(SII), leading manufacturer of immunobiological drugs and vaccines signs a new supply agreement with United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Vaccine alliance Gavi’s procurement partner to supply Pneumococcal Conjugate Vaccine(PCV) to low income countries all over the world.
Pneumonia:
i.Severe Pneumonia is caused by the Pneumococcus bacterium and the major cause of worldwide morbidity and mortality.
ii.Children under the age of 2 are more prone to pneumonia, killing a child for every 39 second.
iii.Most of the death due to pneumonia occurs in the lower income countries.
Key Points:
i.Under the agreement SII will provide around 10 million doses of pneumococcal conjugate vaccine(PCV) to the lower income countries for the next 10 years for 2USD per dose.
ii.At the start of Advance Market Commitment (AMC) the new price (2 USD) is 43% lesser from the price of Gavi (3.50 USD).
iii.This will prevent more than 7,00,000 deaths by vaccinating 225 million children by the end of 2020.
iv.The PCV vaccine is now introduced in around 60 lower income countries, with a 48% coverage rate which is higher than the global average of 47%.
AMC:
A pilot AMC for pneumococcal vaccines was announced in February 2007 and formally launched in June 2009 with a joint pledge of 1.5 billion United States dollars (US$) by the Governments of Canada, Italy, Norway, the Russian Federation and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
About SII:
Chairman & MD– Cyrus S. Poonawalla
CEO– Adar C.Poonawalla
Location– Pune, Maharashtra
About Gavi:
Gavi is associated with the International Finance Facility for Immunisation(IFFIm)
Headquarters– Geneva, Switzerland; Washington DC, USA
