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August 5, 2022
Coronapod: The Open-Science Plan To Unseat Big Pharma and Tackle Vaccine Inequity
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Vaccine Inequities
Such inequity is not only unjust—it also makes the world vulnerable to health emergencies.
Inequity has been a central feature of the COVID-19 pandemic. From health outcomes to access to vaccines, COVID has pushed long-standing disparities out of the shadows and into the public eye and many of these problems are global. In this episode of Coronapod we dig into a radical new collaboration of 15 countries—co-led by the WHO and modelled on open-science. The project, called the mRNA vaccine technology transfer hub, aims to create independent vaccine hubs that could supply the Global South and take on the giants of the pharmaceutical industry in the process. But the road ahead is long—the challenges are complex and numerous, and the odds are stacked against them.
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But at a time when stakes couldn't be higher, momentum is building and if successful, the tantalizing possibility of an end to a dangerous legacy of dependence looms. Can it be done? And if so, what needs to change to make it happen? We ask these questions and more.
