For Dollars Donated To Vaccine Campaigns, Norway Wears The Crown

By Jason Beaubien

Published January 27, 2015 at 6:12 PM EST

A Pakistani polio vaccination worker gives a dose to a child in Islamabad during a 2014 campaign.

GAVI asked and the world gave.

GAVI is the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization. At a conference in Berlin today, the nonprofit group asked for help in meeting its goals of vaccinating 300 million children in low income countries against potentially fatal diseases.

The response was extraordinary: a total of $7.5 billion pledged to cover GAVI's 2016-2020 efforts.

The largest single donor was the United Kingdom, which ponied up $1.573 billion. The second leading donor was the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation ($1.550 Billion) followed by Norway and the United States. (As our readers know, the Gates Foundation is a sponsor of NPR.)

Of note during this round of funding was that China ($5 million) is now contributing to the global vaccine program. All five of the influential BRICS nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — are now contributing to GAVI.