Dr. Larry Brilliant , known for his leading role in the World Health Organization’s successful 1970’s campaign to eradicate smallpox worldwide, argued forcefully last week that eradication of COVID-19 requires mass technology transfer of vaccine manufacturing capabilities to developing countries. Such a call by an American epidemiologist of his prominence is significant, given that Russia and China have already begun such technology transfer. Were the United States, the European nations, and Japan to join such an effort, the necessary vaccine doses could begin to roll off production lines at the speed needed.
Dr. Brilliant explained the strategy in an August 6 exchange with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, who asked him his view of the supposed conundrum of whether to prioritize vaccines for poorer countries or booster shots for the already-vaccinated in developed nations.
“We should select 50 countries around the world that have some nascent or good vaccine manufacturing capability and we should be exporting vaccine manufacturing factories,” he answered. “We did that with smallpox and polio; we had regional vaccine manufacturing. We have to get the vaccine into every inch of 200-plus countries. “That’s an enormous task; much better if the vaccine is made locally” [emphasis in the original].
