Addressing a global health summit organised by Gavi and the Gates Foundation in Brussels on Wednesday, President John Dramani Mahama starkly contrasted military spending with the cost of saving lives through vaccination, telling attendees that the $9 billion sought by the Gavi vaccine alliance over five years is equivalent to the cost of just four B-2 Spirit bombers.

“This morning, I took time to reflect, researched and discovered that one B-2 Spirit bomber that dropped bombs on Iran recently cost $2.13 billion,” President Mahama said at the Gavi vaccine alliance pledging session.

He said, “If you work the math, Gavi seeks the value of four of those B-2 bombers. Surely, the world can invest the equivalent cost of four B-2 bombers to save 500 million children.”

He framed the funding decision as a fundamental moral choice for the international community. “It’s a choice we have to make,” he declared, “between taking lives and saving lives, and I am sure we will save lives instead of taking them.”

The call for increased funding came after the President shared a deeply personal account of the impact of vaccine-preventable diseases. He spoke of his younger brother who was crippled by polio in childhood, a disability that led to long-term stigma, depression, and ultimately, his death from alcohol poisoning.

He contrasted his own childhood experience, when vaccine access in his region was scarce, with the hope that Gavi now provides to millions worldwide.

“Today, Gavi has changed all that and given hope to millions of children,” he stated, adding that Gavi’s efforts allow children to grow into “responsible citizens,” he added.

Highlighting Ghana’s partnership with Gavi, President Mahama announced that the country has achieved 97 per cent immunisation coverage, a figure with which he expressed pride.

However, he acknowledged the challenge of reaching the remaining 3 per cent, approximately 65,000 children in remote areas, and voiced confidence that Gavi’s support would help find them.

As a lower-middle-income country, Ghana co-finances its vaccine programmes with Gavi.

President Mahama detailed steps Ghana is taking to increase its contribution, including uncapping the national health insurance fund, which has allowed for significant allocation to vaccine financing.

He noted that Ghana has spent almost $67 million on vaccines in partnership with Gavi in recent years and has front-loaded $20 million for co-financing this year.

Looking ahead, President Mahama expressed Ghana’s ambition to fast-track its transition from receiving Gavi funding by 2030 to becoming a donor country, citing Indonesia as an example.

He concluded by thanking Gavi and the countries that had made significant pledges at the summit, endorsing the slogan, “While others step back, we step up.”

Gavi aims to raise $9 billion over the next five years (2026-2030) to immunise 500 million children globally.

President Mahama argued that this effort was a crucial investment in the future, enabling children to become “tomorrow’s scientists, engineers, nurses, teachers, and doctors.”