NY Times Endorses Advance Market Commitments

In an editorial today entitled "Vaccine Futures," the New York Times encourages US support for a pilot Advance Market Commitment. The vote of confidence in the new approach to stimulate private vaccine R&D vaccine manufacture follows on the heels of the July G-8 summit, where leaders failed to reach full agreement about creating a pilot AMC for vaccines against pneumococcal disease, a major cause of child death in developing countries. Now, a broader coalition is being pulled together by the Governments of Italy, Canada, the UK and others that want to see real progress made toward committing public resources by year's end. Attention by the New York Times reminds us that the U.S. has another chance to turn its earlier backing of the idea into reality.