PPPs are needed to produce and distribute vaccines. PPPs are good.

PPPs have been essential to vaccine development, especially  with the efforts to create vaccines for HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis. Gavi used a  to fund the development of the Ebola vaccine. Other programs include the , launched in 2005, which has relied on partnerships between U.S. government agencies, multilateral organizations, and the local private sector to combat malaria. For example, in Madagascar, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) worked with the American Red Cross and the nongovernmental organization Malaria No More to increase mosquito net access and malaria awareness education campaigns in the region. Similarly, the U.S.  (PEPFAR), created in 2003 under the Bush administration, currently operates in over  and has invested $85 billion to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic. PEPFAR  to upgrade medical laboratory infrastructure in sub-Saharan Africa and improve logistics to help deliver medicines and sustain numerous other PPPs to maintain epidemic control. Other examples include the , focused on HIV/AIDS relief for women and girls, and the , launched in 2018, that targets AIDS and cervical cancer.Such forms of public sector support were dramatically expanded to fight Covid-19, including the U.S. government’s , instituted to accelerate the development and mass production of Covid-19 vaccines. Its efforts were quantifiably successful: they led to viable vaccines in a dramatically short timespan:  compared to the average of 8–15 years for previous vaccines.These past efforts offer valuable lessons for utilizing PPPs to address pandemics and contribute to existing infrastructure that can be deployed in furtherance of global Covid-19 vaccine supply chains.The private sector is a critical partner in meeting the immense challenge of supplying, distributing, and vaccinating people around the world. Moving supplies of vaccines from the United States and other Western countries will require working closely with multinational freight shippers, including FedEx, UPS, and DHL. This will necessitate coordination at the global level, a role that the U.S. government and its partners should undertake. Once vaccines arrive in-country, efforts will need to shift to the local level, where the U.S. government and its local partners can engage with the private sector in the country to tap into existing distribution networks. Before vaccines can be administered, they must be transported and stored, with some vaccines requiring temperatures . This is especially difficult in contexts where local health systems lack existing storage facilities. Finally, working with local pharmacies and community organizations to provide vaccination centers will continue to be useful in maximizing completed vaccinations from the delivered supply.Once vaccines arrive in-country, efforts will need to shift to the local level, where the U.S. government and its local partners can engage with the private sector in the country to tap into existing distribution networks.The private sector has already played a crucial role in Covid-19 vaccine procurement in many developing countries. For example, mPharma joined a PPP with the Ghanaian government to supply  to Ghana’s population. PPPs have also been formed to increase the manufacturing of Covid-19 vaccines. For example, Pfizer and BioNTech SE have  with the U.S. initiative to provide 500 million doses to be donated to developing countries.Development finance institutions are also  and WHO’s COVAX global vaccine alliance to increase the supply of Covid-19 vaccines in low- and medium-income countries. On July 26, 2021, the World Bank and COVAX announced a new  that implements a financing  to allow COVAX to make advance purchases of vaccines from pharmaceutical companies at  prices. Using World Bank funds, COVAX hopes to supply more than  between late 2021 and mid-2022. Additionally, the World Bank signed a $710 million agreement with the South African pharmaceutical company  in early July to allow the company to manufacture more than 500 million doses of the Johnson and Johnson Covid-19 vaccine by late 2022. Nevertheless, supply challenges remain as COVAX  to acquire the vaccines it has organized to distribute through partners. There is still room for the governments and the private sector to improve vaccine procurement and management (e.g., building in-country vaccine manufacturing capacity Private distribution entities have unique capacities to provide cold chain storage for vaccines, including in areas with little infrastructure. There are already innovative private sector-led solutions for storage and transportation challenges. For example,  are using drones to deliver vaccines in Ghana, and several  have made commercial refrigerators available to the national government for vaccine storage. Also, in Nigeria,  have designed an app that assists the Nigerian government in tracking new shipments of the Covid-19 vaccine in the country.Worldwide, PPPs have also helped to establish mass vaccination sites. In the United States, the  allowed 40,000 pharmacies to distribute vaccines by providing them with liability protection under the Health and Human Services Secretary’s Public Readiness and Emergency Preparedness (PREP) Act. As other countries adopt similar distribution partnerships, this regulatory issue of liability protection is critical for attracting private-sector participation.PPPs should prioritize face-to-face personal delivery of the vaccine, with simultaneous outreach to global corporations, local private institutions, and empowered stakeholders (e.g., pharmacists, chemists, civil society actors). Partnerships will also be essential in leveraging the latest technologies to maximize the scale and reach of supply chains.PPPs have also proven effective in delivery of and education about the Covid-19 vaccination education efforts. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Mozambique, , an NGO, has trained local health professionals to properly administer vaccinations.