In the two years since covid-19 put the world on pause, the progress the scientific community has made against the disease has been astounding. New vaccines, using new technology, have been developed in record time, and are already in the arms of billions around the world.
This has been possible for a number of reasons, chiefly among them international cooperation among researchers, and huge financial investment. According to analysis from the Graduate Institute’s global health center in Geneva, between direct funding of vaccine development and advance purchases of vaccine doses, more than $51 billion—overwhelmingly from public investments—was directed in the first year alone toward having an effective covid-19 vaccine, quickly—and it worked.
“The fact that covid-19 vaccines were developed in record time has injected some optimism that we might be headed toward a vaccine revolution,” says Gavin Yamey, a professor of global health at Duke University.
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