Sabin Vaccine Institute’s Statement to World Leaders at the Second Global COVID Summit

May 13, 2022

By Immunization Advocates staff

The Sabin Vaccine Institute joined leaders from around the world today to push for urgent collective action to curb the COVID-19 pandemic at the Second Global COVID Summit hosted by the Belize, Germany, Indonesia, Senegal and the United States. This pandemic is far from over, and now is the time to commit to bringing vaccines to arms, especially in lower-income countries.

Stacey Knobler, Vice President for Vaccine Innovation and Global Immunization

“When scientists first sequenced the SARS-CoV-2 virus in 2020 and rapidly moved to develop effective vaccines they weren’t starting from scratch. Far from it: their success relied on decades of investment in scientific advances and building from each other’s innovations. 

Sustained Investment – of both time and money – and unwavering commitment to the hard work of collaboration was the only way COVID-19 vaccines were developed.

Now, to curb this pandemic and halt a resurgence in other deadly vaccine-preventable diseases – this same unwavering commitment to listen to, support and collaborate with communities is the only way we are going to vaccinate the world.

COVID is likely to disrupt our lives and livelihoods for years to come – so it’s critical for vaccine delivery funding to empower professionals closest to community impact. 

We have all applauded health workers – but to truly support them Congress must fund the U.S. Global Vax Initiative, Global Health Worker Initiative and other critical programs. The G7 countries should act on the advice of their own task force and collectively provide 2-3 billion dollars in new, annual ODA funding for resilient health systems and their main ingredient: health workers.

At Sabin, we’re putting our Global Immunization program behind those professionals closest to communities – providing $9 million this year to:

Bolster collaboration and capacity among more than 3000 immunization professionals, researchers, health workers and journalists. 
To better understand and address barriers to vaccine delivery, acceptance and demand,
To develop new vaccines to prevent future pandemics and better apply epidemiology to maximize the impact of vaccine rollout.

We have already lost more than 15 million people in this pandemic. Let’s put in the time and money to stop millions more from dying.”