Hyderabad-based vaccine maker, Biological E. Limited (BE) has pledged to offer a five-year price commitment to GAVI (formerly Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization) graduated countries. To this effect, Mahima Datla, managing director of Biological E Limited has offered to reduce the prices of pentavalent vaccine up to 30 per cent.

The commitment of supplying affordable vaccines to GAVI countries was made at a recently held GAVI Pledging Conference in Berlin.

GAVI is an international organisation created to improve access to new and underused vaccines for children living in the world’s poorest countries. Based at Geneva in Switzerland, GAVI is the Vaccine Alliance, which brings together public and private sectors with a common goal of creating equal access to vaccines for children, wherever they live. Its mission is to save children’s lives and protecting people’s health by increasing access to immunisation in poor countries.

Countries whose Gross National Income (GNI) per capita crosses the Gavi eligibility threshold (currently US$ 1,580 as mentioned in the website www.gavi.org ) enter a graduation process and start phasing out of Gavi support.

“As a company, we are deeply committed to improving the quality of human life and make immunization our biggest health priority. However, it’s also true that access to immunization still continues to be a challenge. So, to further our support to GAVI’s mission, Biological E is pleased to offer a 5-year price commitment to GAVI-graduated countries. This commitment aims to ensure that graduated countries will have access to affordable prices that are comparable to GAVI-eligible ones,” said the MD.

Adding further, Datla said that while Biological E. will always strive to ensure affordability of vaccines all through, but at the same time the countries should also focus their energies on sustainability and on overcoming other obstacles that are coming in the way of reaching that last child.

Biological E. Limited had earlier reduced the price of their pentavalent vaccine by 30 per cent in order to increase access as an example of a key market shaping collaborative outcome. Biological E. Limited together with the GATES Foundation, GAVI and UNICEF took the decision to reduce the price of pentavalent vaccine. Mahima Datla had mentioned that it was contextual for Biological E. Limited to make this reduction in order to improve access of immunization because of the company’s late Chairman Vijay Kumar Datla’s vision of building a successful business that is also socially responsible and delivers value to shareholders and to the broader communities we live in.