Washington, DC – The U.S. government has the opportunity to save millions of lives and follow through on their own commitments to do so. To that end, we have been actively and persistently engaged with your Administration in an effort to convince you to commit to a strong pledge to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunizations (GAVI) to help save 4 million infants and children by 2015.  To do our share along with other nations, the U.S. should commit $450 million over 3 years.

Today we respectfully send you yet another message, this time through the mouths of children.

As you know, at ONE we strive to give voice to those who simply want their children to have a chance to live.  One critical and cost-effective step is to help provide two brand new vaccines to help prevent the two biggest killers of children in poor countries:  pneumonia and diarrhea.   You and Prime Minister Cameron highlighted this goal just this week in Britain. It is critical to match your stated goal with the funding necessary to achieve it.  It is up to you to take the first important step to make this happen.

As your own USAID Administrator Raj Shah said: The most transformative new breakthroughs we have at our disposal are in fact, vaccines. By expanding the coverage of existing vaccines and introducing new immunizations, we believe we can save the lives of 4 million children over just the next five years. To do this, we need to deliver pentavalent vaccines, combination immunizations against diphtheria, pertussis, tetanus, hepatitis B and Hib to the 60 percent of children born every year without access to those basic protective immunizations.”

We also need to dramatically expand the reach of new pneumonia vaccines. Every year, 1.5 million kids die in a manner that’s directly attributed to pneumonia. If countries are successfully introducing a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine widely, they can save up to 500,000 of those lives every year. Similarly, a rotavirus vaccine that combats diarrhea could save 300,000 of the 1.5 million children who die every year from diarrheal diseases. (http://www.usaid.gov/press/speeches/2011/sp110215.html)

“Mr. President, flat-lining or stepping back on our commitment to childhood vaccinations puts in jeopardy the health – and possibly lives – of hundreds of thousands of children under five.  We hope you agree that there are absolutely no viable excuses for such a scenario.”