The Hindu Business Line : Vaccine programme is my commitment to society: Gates

The Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH) was expanding the path of vaccines. For instance, all children in the US would get Hepatitis B vaccine. "We want all children in India also to get this vaccine".

HYDERABAD, Nov. 14

THE Chief Software Architect of Microsoft Corporation, Mr Bill Gates, stated that the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which is supporting various immunisation programmes in the country, " is completely independent and has no connection with software-related activities".

Following his address at the Round Table on Immunisation Services in Andhra Pradesh here on Thursday, Mr Gates said that he and his wife had personally provided resources to the foundation.

"My success in Microsoft is not related to this. I made a commitment 10 years back to give back something to the society", he said while replying to a question whether his philanthropic activities were aimed at regaining the sheen Microsoft had lost on account of the anti-trust cases in the US.

Emphasising that vaccines saved lives of 3 million children world wide and half-a-million children in the country every year, Mr Gates said that his foundation was largely into vaccines.

Mr Gates said that he and the Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister have a shared goal of improving children's health. The Chief Minister had asked us to strengthen immunisation services and introduce Hepatitis B vaccine in the State. Today, "we are launching the second phase of this programme". We were also pursuing new approaches such as the use of disposable syringes to make it a safe programme.

The Foundation has given $ 25 million to support two projects in Andhra Pradesh. One project is to develop and test an oral rotavirus vaccine to prevent severe diarrhoea in children. The second one, a partnership project to introduce Hepatitis B vaccine in the State, combines the efforts of the State Government with the technical expertise of a US-based non-governmental organisation, Children's Vaccine Program at PATH, to incorporate new methods, policies and procedures for modern immunisation systems.

Mr Gates said that the first phase of the project, implemented in six districts of the State, had been completed as per schedule.

The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Mr N. Chandrababu Naidu, thanking the Gates Foundation for its support for the project, said even after the completion of the second phase of the project, the State Government would continue the programme.

Those who participated in the round table conference included the State Health Minister, Dr K. Sivaparasada Rao, the Editor of The Hindu, Mr N. Ravi, The Times of India Editor, Mr Dilip Padgaonkar, Editor of Eenadu, Mr Ramoji Rao, Serum Institute of India Chairman, Dr Cyrus Poonawalla, Bharat Biotech Chief Executive, Dr Krishna Ella, Panacea Biotech Chief Executive, Mr Rajesh Jain, senior officials of State Government, Collectors of the six districts in the State where the immunisation programme has been launched and the staff of the Children's Vaccine Programme.