Bold progress demands bold collaboration—and that’s exactly what Gavi and the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI) are intensifying. The two boards met for a second joint session to accelerate efforts to reach zero-dose and under-immunized children with life-saving vaccines and to push toward polio eradication.
Dr. Omar Abdi (Vice Chair of the Gavi Board) and Dr. Chris Elias (Chair of GPEI’s Polio Oversight Board) co-chaired the meeting, joined by board members from Gavi and GPEI, along with representatives from donor and implementing nations, civil society organizations, the Gates Foundation, the World Health Organization (WHO), and UNICEF.
The discussion built on the last joint session held on 19 June 2025, concentrating on integrating initiatives more systematically—both during campaigns and outside them—and boosting routine immunization with the bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV), the inactivated polio vaccine (IPV), and the hexavalent vaccine. The partners also reported progress with the Essential Programme on Immunization (EPI) and national immunization programs to expand coordinated planning and the delivery of integrated services, including joint measles-polio campaigns.
Country updates highlighted gains from Nigeria and Pakistan, where integrated vaccination strategies are reinforcing routine immunization while responding to poliovirus outbreaks in particularly challenging environments. In October, Nigeria launched the first phase of a large-scale nationwide campaign aiming to protect about 106 million children against polio, measles, and rubella. Similarly, Pakistan carried out a nationwide measles-rubella and polio vaccination campaign in November, targeting 34 million children across 89 high-risk districts to shield multiple diseases. The Boards reviewed early results from these efforts and agreed on next steps to intensify coordination in areas where vaccine access remains most difficult.
Onei Uetela, representing civil society on the Gavi Board, underscored the importance of ongoing relationship-building with civil society organizations to keep communities at the center of integration efforts. The Boards also acknowledged continued donor support for vaccine procurement through flexible funding mechanisms.
The ongoing collaboration between Gavi and GPEI reinforces a shared commitment to ensure every child, regardless of where they live, can access life-saving vaccines and the health systems that sustain them.
Beyond the joint Board sessions, a leadership group comprising members from Gavi, GPEI, WHO, UNICEF, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Rotary International, and other partners will continue to meet regularly to provide guidance and maintain cross-initiative coordination.
About Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance
Gavi is a public-private partnership that helps immunize more than half the world’s children against some of the deadliest diseases by enabling access to new and under-used vaccines. As a core partner of GPEI, Gavi supports countries in introducing inactivated polio vaccine (IPV) into essential immunization programs to strengthen population immunity and help prevent new outbreaks. This work is vital to sustaining a polio-free world.
About the Global Polio Eradication Initiative (GPEI)
GPEI is a government-led partnership that has reduced polio-induced paralysis by 99% since 1988 through expansive vaccination campaigns and extensive disease surveillance. Yet poliovirus remains in parts of northwestern Nigeria and northwestern Pakistan, where large zero-dose populations persist. In these settings, GPEI’s campaigns often serve as families’ primary connection to the formal health system and are essential for closing coverage gaps. Accordingly, the program frequently coordinates with Gavi and other immunization partners to deliver additional life-saving vaccines alongside polio vaccines whenever possible. GPEI also leverages its vast network of trained social mobilizers and trusted community leaders to boost overall vaccine uptake.
