Pandemic Center

The United States has supported the World Health Organization (WHO) since its inception, playing a central role in its 1948 creation because it ultimately served American interests, despite the entity’s well-known flaws. Heavily influenced by the post-war notion that universalism was the best corrective to yet another devastating global conflict, 20th century leaders in the U.S. understood that improving global health and containing emergencies were desirable outcomes in and of themselves and would directly reduce health threats to Americans. At the time, the U.S. also recognized that building and maintaining an effective global health infrastructure was beyond its lone capacity. Because no one could predict where new infections would emerge, the world required a truly global surveillance and response system. Through WHO, the U.S. leveraged funding sources far beyond its own substantial monetary contributions and granted U.S. experts access to countries otherwise hostile to American initiatives. U.S. withdrawal from the organization on 22 January 2026 and from other international health partnerships, such as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance—which I led from 2011 to 2023—makes achieving America’s interests more difficult, especially as the current administration dismantles much of the country’s other public health infrastructure.

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(TNND) — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is refusing to review Moderna’s application for approval of an mRNA-based flu vaccine, the latest step taken by the administration that might chill the use of the technology that was key to the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic.

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COVID-19 offered a difficult lesson about the devastation a virus can bring to our world. In his latest book, Fair Doses: An Insider's Story of the Pandemic and the Global Fight for Vaccine Equity, Dr. Seth Berkley provides us the fascinating backstory of vaccines: how they came about, why they’re important, and how they have been made globally available. But our quest for vaccine equity remains ongoing. Dr. Berkley, an internationally-recognized infectious disease epidemiologist, offers an insider’s view of the challenges of developing and disseminating vaccines for a broad swath of illnesses, from Ebola to AIDS to malaria and beyond.

Seth Berkley, MD, is an infectious disease epidemiologist currently advising vaccine, biotechnology, and technology companies, and is Adjunct Professor and Senior Adviser to the Pandemic Center at Brown University. He co-founded COVAX, a global vaccine initiative; and founded and served as CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.COVID-19 offered a difficult lesson about the devastation a virus can bring to our world. In his latest book, Fair Doses: An Insider's Story of the Pandemic and the Global Fight for Vaccine Equity, Dr. Seth Berkley provides us the fascinating backstory of vaccines: how they came about, why they’re important, and how they have been made globally available. But our quest for vaccine equity remains ongoing. Dr. Berkley, an internationally-recognized infectious disease epidemiologist, offers an insider’s view of the challenges of developing and disseminating vaccines for a broad swath of illnesses, from Ebola to AIDS to malaria and beyond.

Seth Berkley, MD, is an infectious disease epidemiologist currently advising vaccine, biotechnology, and technology companies, and is Adjunct Professor and Senior Adviser to the Pandemic Center at Brown University. He co-founded COVAX, a global vaccine initiative; and founded and served as CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

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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