Race for the COVID-19 Vaccine with Dr. Chris Beyrer

Since it was first discovered in Wuhan in late 2019, COVID-19 has risen to become a raging pandemic, with over 27 million confirmed cases around the world. Scientists, government leaders, and experts agree that a key strategy to ending the pandemic must be the development of a vaccine, which has prompted laboratories, academic institutions, and pharmaceutical companies around the world to develop vaccine candidates as quickly as possible. This rush for a vaccine raises many questions: will a vaccine developed on an expedited timeline be safe? Who will have first access to it? Will governments carry the brunt of the price of the vaccine? Amid eroding trust in public health officials, global resistance to WHO recommendations, and skepticism from the global medical community towards Sputnik V, the Russian vaccine candidate, there are no easy answers. 

To listen to this episode, find the Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs on iTunes or Spotify, or click the link below!

Race for the COVID-19 Vaccine with Dr. Chris Beyrer

To explain the international COVID-19 vaccine race, joining us today on the podcast is Dr. Chris Beyrer.

Chris Beyrer MD, MPH, is the Desmond M. Tutu Professor of Public Health and Human Rights at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Baltimore, Maryland. He is a Professor of Epidemiology, International Health, Health, Behavior and Society, and Nursing. He serves as Director of Johns Hopkins Training Program in HIV Epidemiology and Prevention Science and as Founding Director of the Center for Public Health and Human Rights. He is the Associate Director of the Johns Hopkins Center for AIDS Research (CFAR) and of the University’s Center for Global Health. He currently serves as a member of the MSM Working Group of the HIV Prevention Trials Network