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Summary
A new vaccine against pneumonia is being introduced in Africa and some other countries across the world.Gavi alliance, a global health partner of public and private sectors for immunization, said that about 19 countries will get this vaccine at first. It is said that Gavi is in need of an extra 500m pound or 800m dollars annually for managing the shortfall in immunization in the next five years. The pneumococcal vaccine costs 2.20 pounds (3.50 dollars) in Africa compared to 38 pounds in Europe as a result of a deal between Gavi and two manufacturers: Pfizer and GSK. The roll-out in the developing world comes just a year after the same vaccine was introduced in the United States. The vaccine could save more than half a million lives a year globally, reports the BBC .
