maximises our chances of getting safe and effective vaccines, and being ready to
produce them quickly at scale. The initial aim is to provide 2bn doses by the end of 2021,
which should be enough to protect high-risk and vulnerable people, as well as front-line
health-care workers.
We still have a long way to go, first in getting the vaccines through trials, getting them
approved and licensed, and ensuring manufacturing is in place so we can move quickly.
We are also working to ensure that the infrastructure, supply chains and vaccinators are
in place to distribute billions of doses at speed. And all this at a time when health
systems have been disrupted by the pandemic and an infodemic of misinformation is
threatening to undermine public confidence in vaccine safety.
Nevertheless, despite such challenges, the fact that we have come this far bodes well,
not just for how quickly we end this pandemic, but for future preparedness and
resilience for the next one. Because there will be a next one; the emergence of novel
viruses of pandemic potential is an evolutionary certainty. More than just a multilateral
solution to a global crisis, COVAX is also the first step in a collective learning process to
improve our global defences—our disease surveillance, early-warning systems and
response mechanisms—across the entire world, to ensure that the next time this
happens, we are better prepared to act.
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