I honestly believe Bill Gates is trying to use the opportunity he has to do improve the lot of humanity. Good for him. However this is a massive opportunity fo

I honestly believe Bill Gates is trying to use the opportunity he has to do improve the lot of humanity. Good for him. However this is a massive opportunity for the vaccine companies who stand to gain a lot (far more than the $10bn) from this. Bill Gates might be in this to make the world better, but they are in it for the profit - and it's reasonable to question their recommendations and motivations. For example look at the Pentavalent vaccine in india: DPT + Hib + Hep B GAVI pays Rs 145 subsidy India pays Rs 380 extra Subsidy for 5 years After that India pays Rs 525 Similarly it's suggested India include a number of new vaccines on their schedule (HPV @ Rs 9000/child, Rotavirus @ Rs 2000/child, and Pneumococcal vaccine @ Rs 650/child), but the situation in India is that 50% of the population don’t receive the basic EPI vaccines costing Rs 30. (not a typo, rs30 vs rs9000). In a nation of limited resources surely the first priority needs to be getting the basic vaccines to the rural poor. But the vaccine companies aren't interested in spending Gates' money on low margin vaccines, they want their foot in the door of a national program. And the WHO and UN unfortunately aren't immune to their pressure. Away from India here's an article about the swine flu 'pandemic' http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,637119,00.html http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,637119,00.h... If anybody's interested I've half a dozen well cited papers and presentations on the topic of vaccines in India - and they make quite depressing reading. Email in profile.