Time for a transnational vaccine effort

October 24, 2005

The San Francisco Chronicle calls for Governments to commit themselves to buying a vaccine:

No corporate interest can pay to test a vaccine if it can't tell its shareholders there is sure to be a market for it. Nor can it relinquish patent control, or scale up to make billions of the pills it can barely give away in a normal flu year. Not unless governments pay. ... You do the math. We need more than pennies dropping. We need a global pandemic authority, and we need action. Now.

Owen comments: It is amazing how quickly people understand these things when their own lives, and those of their children, are at risk.

Disclaimer

CGD blog posts reflect the views of the authors, drawing on prior research and experience in their areas of expertise. CGD is a nonpartisan, independent organization and does not take institutional positions.