Health affairs
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How New Models Of Vaccine Development For COVID-19 Have Helped Address An Epic Public Health Crisis.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine development and manufacturing have proceeded at a historically unprecedented pace. This speed may be accounted for by the unprecedented scale of resources being devoted to addressing COVID-19; an unusual intensity of cooperation, encompassing the public and private sectors and occurring both within and across national borders; and innovation with respect to both technologies (for example, new vaccine platforms) and processes (for example, vaccine clinical trials). In this article we describe and analyze how resources, cooperation, and innovation have contributed to the accelerated development of COVID-19 vaccines. Similar levels and types of public investment, models of cooperation, and harnessing of innovative processes and technologies could be applied to future epidemics and other global health challenges.
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The US response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been plagued with politics driving public health and messaging. As a result, COVID-19 vaccine rollout is occurring in an environment ill equipped to achieve broad acceptance of the vaccine. Addressing public concerns unlocks the potential for high vaccine coverage; this is best achieved when science and values, not politics, inform public health. ⋯ Effective communication will require rapid and rigorous science to promptly differentiate between adverse events following immunization that are causally related versus simply coincidental. Health care providers, in particular, will need support to process the otherwise potentially overwhelming amount of relevant information and effectively integrate it into discussions with their patients to support their decision making. An equitable COVID-19 immunization program could substantively reduce the disproportionate risks associated with this pandemic.
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The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic response brought forth major changes in innovation policy. This article takes stock of the key features of the COVID-19 innovation system-the network of public and private actors influencing the development and diffusion of technologies to combat the pandemic. Before the pandemic, biomedical research and development policy consisted largely of "push" funding from the public sector in support of basic research and "pull" incentives from patents to motivate private companies to invest in clinical trials and develop drugs and vaccines. ⋯ Nonpatent barriers to competition may also have incentivized innovation. The challenges to ensuring diffusion have gained in prominence during the pandemic, though it is unclear what role patents will play in pricing and access. Some aspects of this approach to biomedical innovation may be unique to crises, but others could provide lessons for policy beyond the pandemic.