Devex: Why lockdowns aren’t a one-size-fits-all solution to the pandemic “While countries in the global north were sluggish in responding to the coronavirus, governments in many lower-income countries were much faster to enact lockdowns. … But questions have equally been raised by some public health experts over the suitability of…

STAT: Pharma leaders shoot down WHO voluntary pool for patent rights on Covid-19 products “The heads of some of the world’s largest drug makers expressed a mix of confusion and resistance to a World Health Organization voluntary pool to collect patent rights, regulatory test data, and other information that could…

NPR: In The Battle Against COVID-19, A Risk Of ‘Vaccine Nationalism’ “The race to defeat the coronavirus can be viewed in two very distinct ways. One is based on international cooperation, with a vaccine treated as a ‘global public good.’ The other is competitive, a battle between nations that’s being…

PRI: Coronavirus vaccine will need new models of public-private partnership, says research nonprofit CEO “The world will need billions of doses of a vaccine to eradicate the novel coronavirus pandemic, and that means public and private sector partners will have to find new models of partnership to meet the challenge,…

The Guardian: Exclusive: big pharma rejected E.U. plan to fast-track vaccines in 2017 “The world’s largest pharmaceutical companies rejected an E.U. proposal three years ago to work on fast-tracking vaccines for pathogens like coronavirus to allow them to be developed before an outbreak, the Guardian can reveal. The plan to…

BMJ: Ethical road map through the covid-19 pandemic Zoe Fritz, Wellcome fellow in society and ethics, and colleagues (5/21). CNN: Is China the new leader on the world health stage? Michael Bociurkiw, global affairs analyst and host of the Global Impact podcast (5/20). The Conversation: The World Health Organization must…

AP: AstraZeneca secures orders for virus vaccine under testing “Drug maker AstraZeneca said Thursday it had secured its first agreements for 400 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine it is testing, bolstered by an investment from the U.S. vaccine agency. The Anglo-Swedish company reported it had received more than $1…

New York Times: Moderna Coronavirus Vaccine Trial Shows Promising Early Results “…The preliminary findings, in the first eight people who each received two doses of the experimental vaccine, must now be repeated in far larger tests in hundreds and then thousands of people, to find out if the vaccine can…

NPR: Confusion Over Who Would Get 1st Access To Coronavirus Vaccine Exposes Problems “Confusion over who would get first access to a multi-national company’s coronavirus vaccine has laid bare the sensitivities over nationalism and medicine during the pandemic…” (Beardsley, 5/14). STAT: Under an ‘America First’ president, will the U.S. corner…

Devex: Opinion: To deliver a COVID-19 vaccine equitably, we must start planning now Deborah Atherly, global head of policy, access, and introduction for PATH’s center for vaccine innovation and access (5/7). Devex: Opinion: The coronavirus response needs local communities and faith leaders Ruth Faber, CEO of EU-CORD, and colleagues (5/7).…