When the world has safe and effective COVID-19 vaccines,

how can we make sure they reach the people that need them most?

There's this video I've watched a lot this week.

It's from two years ago.

There are little shots of vials moving along an assembly line, people staring

earnestly into the camera, walking through masked crowds, or cuddling a baby. It's from a group

called Gavi, a public-private partnership with the goal of expanding vaccine access.

If governments compete for vaccines, most countries could miss out.

This is not only bad for countries that cannot secure their own supplies.

It's bad for us all, as no one is safe until everyone is safe.

In 2020, Gavi was pushing the idea of a special partnership, where countries would pool money and risk to try to get COVID vaccines to people around the world.

Rich countries would pay more, poor countries would get the vaccines for free.

They called it co-vacs.

If we start now, we can save hundreds of thousands of lives, not to mention trillions of dollars.

It's not about one country versus another.

It's about one world protected.

The idea sounded great, almost utopian.

To Achele Prabula, it also sounded like a total fantasy.

Getting vaccines to people in poor countries could mean something more than begging Western pharmaceutical companies for their surplus vaccines or whatever they can provide and then shipping

them across, rather than finding

ways to make those vaccines in poor countries.

ACHL is a public health researcher and writer in Bangalore, India.

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