Overview

How vaccines became the world's most powerful and widely distributed health intervention, and the inside story of the challenging race to deliver COVID-19 vaccines globally. Fair Doses is a story of vaccines: how they came about, why they are important, and how they have been made globally available—although our quest for vaccine equity is still ongoing. In this fascinating deep dive into vaccines, Dr. Seth Berkley, an internationally recognized infectious disease epidemiologist and public health leader, offers an inside view of the challenges of developing and disseminating vaccines for a broad swath of illnesses, from Ebola to AIDS to malaria and beyond. COVID-19 was a lesson about the devastation a novel virus can bring on our world. When the first signs of this new infection appeared, Dr. Berkley co-created COVAX, a global initiative aimed at ensuring equitable vaccine distribution. The COVAX team had to navigate vaccine nationalism, vaccine diplomacy, intentional disinformation, political forces, and the conflicting incentives of vaccine companies in its race against the virus. In record time, the group organized 193 countries, raised more than $12 billion, built the world's largest portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines, and delivered two billion doses to 146 countries. Future pandemics are an evolutionary inevitability, and future global response needs to be much faster and more equitable. Drawing from his personal experience, Dr. Berkley lays out a bold vision of preparedness that will help the global community take advantage of rapid advancements in science to make our world safer from infectious diseases.

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9780520413160

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Reviews

 ""A fascinating account of the race to distribute the [COVID-19 vaccine] around the world."" * Nature * ""Berkley argues with lucidity that equitable vaccine access is a moral imperative and an epidemiological necessity, and that failure to achieve it prolongs a pandemic. . . . Berkley’s narrative is both illuminating about this history and serves as a wake-up call about the predictability and scale of the threat ahead.” * Lancet * ""A vital, occasionally provocative read from one of global health’s most influential figures."" * The Public Health Diplomat * ""Fair Doses shows how the world’s leadership engaged with COVID-19, warts and all. The values, the wheeling and dealing that saved lives, and the decisions that shortened the pandemic are all here. The book is also a sharp warning that we are less ready now to confront a pandemic than we were when COVID-19 entered our lives."" * Science * ""The story of vaccines, as told by an infectious disease epidemiologist. During the covid-19 pandemic, Seth Berkley fought against political resistance and nationalism to help distribute 2bn vaccines across the world."" * The Economist *

Author Information

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 served as CEO of Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance from 2011 to 2023; cofounded COVAX; and founded and served as CEO of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.

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