Development and Health Ministers of the G7 countries met in Berlin, Germany, last week to hold urgent joint consultations on “supporting vaccine equity and pandemic preparedness in developing countries”.  The joint group highlighted the need to accelerate equitable and sustainable access to vaccines everywhere, and to strengthen pandemic preparedness and response in low- and middle-income countries.  At the same time, however, the meeting cautioned against letting global crises interfere with other development and public health priorities and urged continued support for existing efforts, including global polio eradication.

The global effort to eradicate polio is a clear and concrete example of the value of working in close integration with other development and public health efforts, and contribute to global pandemic preparedness and response.  Polio staff continue to contribute to the COVID-19 pandemic response and immunization recovery efforts, together with the introduction and roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines. 

In April 2022, GPEI partners, led by WHO Director-General, launched the ‘Investment Case for Polio Eradication’, the sister document to the Polio Eradication Strategy 2022-2026, which lays out the economic and humanitarian rationale for investing in a polio-free world, as well as the broader benefits of polio eradication.

In October 2022, Germany will generously co-host a global pledging moment, giving the international development community the opportunity to publicly re-commit to this effort, including to support a stronger and sustainably-funded WHO, so that the organization can maintain its capacity to support countries in achieving and sustaining polio eradication, and continue to benefit broader public health efforts, including support for pandemic preparedness and response.