Prioritise life saving vaccinations over military spending

President John Mahama has appealed to the international community to prioritise saving lives through vaccination over military spending.

He also said that the country was aware it had to wean itself of Gavi support by 2030, a charge it had taken seriously to remain self-sufficient in vaccine procurement.

He described the funding decision as a fundamental moral choice for the international community, adding “it’s a choice we have to make between taking lives and saving lives, and I am sure we will save lives instead of taking them”.

Addressing a global health summit organised by Gavi and the Gates Foundation in Brussels on Wednesday, the President drew contrasts in military spending with the cost of saving lives through vaccination.

He said the $9 billion fund which Gavi, the vaccine alliance, sought to fund live-saving vaccines for routine immunisation over five years against preventable diseases was equivalent to the cost of four B-2 Spirit bombers, special combat military jets.

“This morning, I took time to reflect, researched and discovered that one B-2 Spirit bomber that dropped bombs on Iran recently cost $2.13 billion.

“If you work the maths, Gavi seeks the value of four of those B-2 bombers. Surely, the world can invest the equivalent cost of four B-2 bombers to save 500 million children,” President Mahama said at the Gavi vaccine alliance pledging session to a thunderous applause from the participants who represented every continent.

Significance of vaccines

The President recounted the story of his younger brother who suffered polio in childhood, a disability that led to long-term stigma, depression and ultimately his death from alcohol poisoning.

He contrasted his own childhood experience, when vaccine access in his region was scarce, with the hope that Gavi now provided to millions worldwide.

“Today, Gavi has changed all that and given hope to millions of children,” President Mahama said, adding that Gavi’s efforts allow children to grow into “responsible citizens”.

President Mahama further said that working with Gavi on a co-funding partnership had enabled Ghana to achieve 97 per cent immunisation coverage.

He said the country was now working towards locating the rest of the three per cent who were mostly in remote hard-to-reach areas.

Assurance

The President gave the assurance that Ghana was now able to frontload $20 million of its counterpart funding to Gavi as a result of uncapping the National Health Insurance Levy.

He also said that the country was aware it had to wean itself of Gavi support by 2030, a charge it had taken seriously to remain self-sufficient in vaccine procurement.