01 January 2018
Decade of Vaccines Collaboration
2018
We are proud to say that millions of lives will be saved thanks to the promise of the Global Vaccine Action Plan, an ambitious roadmap approved by the World Health Assembly in May 2012 to deliver universal access to immunizations. We are all committed to improving the health of every woman and every child on the planet. Our vision to achieve this is straightforward: We will work together to extend, by 2020 and beyond, the full benefits of immunization to all people, regardless of where they are born, who they are or where they live. We will use the powerful tools already available to most, but not yet all people, including existing and new vaccines that prevent disease and save lives.
This Collaboration in support of the Updated Global Strategy for Women’s, Children’s and Adolescents’ Health (2016-2030) is spearheaded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, UNICEF, GAVI the Vaccine Alliance, and NIAID

2012
The Decade of Vaccines is a vision to reach all people with the vaccines they need. The Leadership Council of the Decade of Vaccines has made a commitment to this vision and asks for your organization’s pledge to improve the health and lives of women and children everywhere by systematically addressing their unmet needs in immunization. Immunization throughout a person’s lifetime is crucial if we are to achieve the ambitious goals of the UN Secretary General’s Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health.
As representatives of the numerous organizations that worked on the Decade of Vaccines Collaboration, we are proud to say that millions of lives will be saved thanks to the promise of the Global Vaccine Action Plan, an ambitious roadmap approved by the World Health Assembly in May 2012 to deliver universal access to immunizations.
The leadership of the World Health Organization, UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the GAVI Alliance, the U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the African Leaders Malaria Alliance and others that formed the Decade of Vaccines Collaboration, have pledged our support to this joint effort. Many governments, health leaders, non-government organizations and other agencies have joined us.
We are all committed to improving the health of every woman and every child on the planet. Our vision to achieve this is straightforward: We will work together to extend, by 2020 and beyond, the full benefits of immunization to all people, regardless of where they are born, who they are or where they live. We will use the powerful tools already available to most, but not yet all people, including existing and new vaccines that prevent disease and save lives.
We have achieved many things through immunization: We eradicated smallpox from the world, in what has been called one of mankind’s greatest triumphs. We are on the verge of eradicating polio, and the toll of other diseases has dropped tremendously. The Region of the Americas has eliminated measles and rubella, saving many lives.
Despite these accomplishments, and the lives that have been improved through immunization, we cannot rest while the lives of so many depend on our actions at this seminal moment. We must reach forward, work together and make this vision of the Decade of Vaccines a reality. We all have a role in making this happen. We ask that you make your voices heard and your actions count, in support of the Global Vaccine Action Plan.
Learn more:
- Read the Global Vaccine Action Plan
- World Health Assembly Resolution
- Press release: World Health Assembly Endorses New Plan to Increase Global Access to Vaccines
- GAVI Alliance: 194 countries endorse landmark Global Vaccine Action Plan
- Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation: Statement by Bill Gates on the Occasion of the World Health Assembly Resolutions Declaring Completion of Polio Eradication a Global Emergency and Endorsing the Global Vaccine Action Plan
- UNICEF Immunization
- WHO Immunization
- NIAID Vaccine Research