Merck is committed to registering our vaccines worldwide—including in developing countries and all countries in which it conducts clinical trials—in an expedient and transparent fashion.

Toward this end, we have set a goal to reduce the historic gap of 15–20 years between product introduction in developed and developing countries with each new vaccine we introduce.

World Health Organization (WHO) prequalification is an important step in Merck's access efforts. Merck received WHO prequalification for ROTATEQ^®(rotavirus vaccine, live, oral, pentavalent) in October 2008, MMR-II in December 2008 and GARDASIL^® [Human Papillomavirus Quadrivalent (Types 6, 11, 16, and 18) Vaccine, Recombinant] in May 2009. WHO prequalification signifies that vaccines meet the requirements of quality, safety and efficacy of UN agencies, including UNICEF and the Pan American Health Organization, and is an important step toward providing global access and ensuring that all vaccines—including Merck's—provided to developing countries are of the highest quality.