As we approach the second anniversary of the initial COVID-19 outbreak, there is plenty of talk about how the global response, or lack of it, has exposed deep inequities in our world – above all, in access to healthcare.

Yes, we have a range of effective vaccines developed and distributed at stunning speed by private companies, building often on government-supported research. But at the same time, we have failed dismally to ensure adequate provision of these vaccines to the Global South.

Stepping up the supply of vaccines to countries whose vaccination rates remain terribly low is clearly an urgent task. But at the same time, there are pressing questions about where we go next, and – for corporate members of the World Economic Forum – about the role of private companies in addressing the underlying inequities we are struggling with.

There is here, I believe, also a historic opportunity for action, but one that will require some visionary thinking from all of us.

To restate the numbers: by December 2021, some 66% of the population of G7 countries had received two jabs; in Africa the figure was only 8%.

The primary responsibility for this dire situation undoubtedly lies with the governments of the wealthiest countries and a scramble for vaccine supplies driven by national self-interest. But the private sector is also taking some of the blame – reporting by the Financial Times in December highlighted criticism of Pfizer in particular, with complaints that the world’s dominant producer of COVID-19 vaccines had used its “influence and control over access to its vaccine to prioritize short-term profits over global access to essential vaccines and treatments”.

Making this happen clearly requires more than the public policy rhetoric that the only way we can be safe from the threat of a global pandemic is if we are all kept safe.

But so far, this is not a challenge for which the private sector and market forces yet have sufficient answer. Aside from the need to develop local capacity and expertise, the demands of shareholders in New York or London mean that pharma companies are incentivized to focus on the highest value markets; why invest in developing new, likely low-profit-margin markets?

Read the full article about investment in equitable vaccines by Lord Mark Malloch-Brown at World Economic Forum.