DAVOS, Switzerland – The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will donate $10 billion over the next decade to research new vaccines and bring them to the world's poorest countries, the Microsoft co-founder and his wife said Friday.
Callingupon governments and business to also contribute, they said the moneywill produce higher immunization rates and aims to make sure that 90percent of children are immunized against dangerous diseases such asdiarrhea and pneumonia in poorer nations.
"We must make this the decade of vaccines," Bill Gates said in a statement. "Vaccines already save and improve millions of lives in developing countries. Innovation will make it possible to save more children than ever before."
Gates said the commitment more than doubles the $4.5 billion the foundation has given to vaccine research over the years.