Pandemic Center

Developing a vaccine is one challenge. Delivering it to billions is another entirely. Dr. Seth Berkley – one of the most influential leaders in global health and the former CEO of Gavi – joins us to unpack his new book Fair Doses, which reveals the hidden systems, politics, and economics behind global immunization.

Under his leadership, Gavi was the largest vaccine organization in the world, raising $20 billion in funding, delivering 7 billion vaccine doses, and immunizing 3 billion children, transforming global access and reshaping the vaccine market for low-income countries. Dr. Berkley explains why vaccine mistrust has persisted for centuries, and why today’s misinformation environment is uniquely dangerous. He details how Gavi’s alliance model mobilized WHO, UNICEF, governments, and manufacturers to build the largest vaccine delivery network in history. We also go inside COVAX, from vaccine nationalism to the supply-chain barriers that defined the global COVID-19 response. Finally, Dr. Berkley looks ahead to how mRNA, synthetic biology, and AI could radically accelerate our ability to respond to the pandemics to come.

For much of human history, infectious diseases were the main causes of morbidity and mortality. The sciences of public health, epidemiology, microbiology, and vaccine and drug development have dramatically reduced the risks associated with these diseases such that life expectancies in high income countries have increased by close to 40 years over the last century, principally due to a reduction in child deaths from infectious diseases. Today, chronic diseases are the main cause of mortality and are expected to increase over time.

Seth Berkley, MD, an infectious disease epidemiologist, was the CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance from 2011 to 2023; a co-founder of COVAX, which developed, manufactured, and distributed COVID-19 vaccines; and the founder and CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

Dr. Berkley spoke to Infectious Disease Special Edition about his new book, “Fair Doses: An Insider’s Story of the Pandemic and the Global Fight for Vaccine Equity.”

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Hear from the co-chairs of the G20 High-Level Independent Panel on Financing the Global Commons for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (HLIP) as they share insights from their new report, Closing the Deal: Financing Our Security Against Pandemic Threats, which outlines practical and bold steps to take pandemic threats off the table.

The G20 first established the Panel in 2021 to rethink how global preparedness is financed. This year, the Panel was reconvened by the South Africa G20 Presidency under the Joint Finance and Health Task Force to address the global pandemic financing gap at a time of profound challenges for global health and health security. The U.S. National Academy of Medicine served as the Panel’s Secretariat.

As the global health architecture undergoes major changes, drivers of pandemic risk continue to rise. The next pandemic is not a theoretical concern—it could happen at any time. Yet, despite mounting threats, countries remain severely underinvested in pandemic preparedness and response. The Panel’s new report serves as a blueprint for rapid, coordinated action.

In this virtual public briefing, hear about the Panel’s five key recommendations and learn what actions can be taken now to prevent biological catastrophe and achieve a high return on investment in global health security.

Vaccines have greatly improved public health, but their continued use is being hampered by misinformation, distrust, and inequity. On this episode, Dr. Seth Berkley discussed his book, Fair Doses.