Issued on:
The race is on to vaccinate the planet. Can they deliver? They is the pharmaceutical giants who have rolled out jabs in record time but are now scrambling to ramp up production. They is also the political leaders who paid up front for the research and delivery of the vaccines. We ask about threats to force big pharma to make good on its promises of speedy delivery. And the promise by European leaders to have 70-percent of the population inoculated by the end of August.
Here in France the vaccine race has prompted a second bout of soul searching: after underperforming in the mass testing department in the Spring, why is a nation so proud of its long list of Nobel science laureates yet to deliver the goods on vaccines? Has the pandemic laid bare the consequences of decades of defunding in the research and education sector? Or is it the whole health sector – public and private – that needs a rethink?
Produced by Charles Wente, Juliette Laurain and Eva-Luna Tholance.
