The new effort to pass a standalone Covid bill to pay for therapeutics, vaccines and testing must garner Republican votes in the Senate, complicating its path.
We must reimagine how to make life-saving vaccines available to everyone.
Nearly a year into a pandemic that has killed more than a million people and laid waste to both public health systems and the global economy, many have turned their hopes to a vaccine. Optimism has been buoyed by the historic pace of development of multiple COVID-19 vaccine candidates and the recent news that Pfizer, in partnership with the small company BioNTech, has reported preliminary data on a vaccine candidate showing 90 percent effectiveness. The arrival of a vaccine in the next few months would be a remarkable feat, but fundamental questions beyond basic assurances of safety and efficacy remain. Will there be enough doses, and who will get them?