Seth Berkley

Epidemiologist and public health leader Dr Seth Barkley explains why everyone should have equal access to vaccines for diseases such as Covid, Ebola and AIDS and why it is a huge challenge to achieve that.

Barkley says vaccines are our most important health tool, yet 7 million die every year from infectious diseases for which there is a vaccine. He questions why it is so difficult to get vaccines into the arms of those that need them and why there is such a blatant disregard for science and a growing belief in misinformation that defies the medical facts. Berkley says a lack of equity in vaccination impacts a country’s health and the local and global economy. And he warns that a lack of preparedness could lead to a catastrophic event on a larger scale than the Covid pandemic.

Berkley is an adviser to biotechnology and technology companies and adjunt professor and senior adviser to the Pandemic Centre at Brown University. He is a former chief executive of Gavi, the vaccine alliance, cofounder of COVAX, a global initiative for fair distribution of Covid vaccines, and founder and former chief executive of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative.