Between 2023 and August 2026, ten countries supported by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance paid more than US$440 million in co-financing for their children’s vaccines. In this episode of One Shot, Long Life!, the immunization financing podcast of the Global Health Advocacy Incubator (GHAI), host Abel Akara Ticha looks back on three years of GHAI’s work with Gavi, governments and civil society partners as Gavi 5.0 ends and Gavi 6.0 begins.

GHAI in-country coordinators share what changed: Dr. Wesley Mwambazi (Zambia), Emmanuel Tieh Delamy (Liberia), Dr. Christine Harmelle Ename-Ekoman (Cameroon), Prof. Emmanuel Alhassan (Nigeria), Eli Ramamonjisoa (Madagascar), Dr. Abdul Jibril Njai (Sierra Leone), Risper Chebet (Kenya), Stephen A. Atasige (Ghana) and Dr. Phonethipsavanh Nouanthong (Lao PDR). Vandana Shah, GHAI Vice President for Health Systems Strengthening, brings the lessons together.

Q: What role did parliaments play in immunization financing?

A: After 21 members of parliament signed the Istanbul Parliamentary Call to Action in April 2025, GHAI and its partners engaged 187 MPs, and nine of the ten countries formed a parliamentary caucus or coalition on immunization financing.

Q: Why does paying co-financing on time matter?

A: “No child is vaccinated by a line item in a budget,” says Prof. Emmanuel Alhassan. Kenya completed its 2025/26 Gavi co-financing earlier than ever recorded, and Ghana cut its payment time from 11 months to six.

Q: What comes next under Gavi 6.0?

A: “A vaccine paid for on time is the one shot that gives a child a long life,” says Vandana Shah.

About "One Shot, Long Life!"

One Shot, Long Life! is a podcast on immunization financing and vaccine advocacy in Africa and Asia. Host Abel Akara Ticha talks with parliamentarians, civil society leaders and health experts about how countries fund vaccines and keep children protected from preventable disease.

What is a zero-dose child? A zero-dose child has never received a single routine vaccine. Reaching these children is the front line of global immunization.

Why does domestic vaccine financing matter? As donor support tapers, national budgets cover a growing share of vaccine costs. Steady domestic funding keeps children protected year after year.

Follow the Global Health Advocacy Incubator on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/advocacyincubator/

Podcast home: https://www.advocacyincubator.org/one-shot-long-life

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