COVID-19: Vaccine Equity (POSTPONED)

This is a virtual program, instructions to join this webinar will be sent to all registrants prior to the event.

For the pandemic to wane globally, the World Health Organization estimates that 70 percent of the world needs to be vaccinated by the middle of this year. Currently only 57 percent of the global population is fully vaccinated and only 64 percent has received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine. Inequity in access to vaccines means that the vast majority of those vaccinated are from wealthier, developed countries. In low-income countries, only 13 percent of the population has received at least one dose of a vaccine. 3 billion unvaccinated people will need 9 billion doses to be fully vaccinated and boosted. How can we get there? Join the World Affairs Council on March 30, 2022 from 12:00-1:00pm PST for a conversation on vaccine equity with Dr. Peter Hotez, recently nominated for the 2022 Nobel Peace as half of the duo who created CORBEVAX, a low cost vaccine that is seen as a potential game changer in the pursuit to distribute COVID-19 vaccines globally. Gabrielle Fitzgerald, founder and CEO of Panorama and co-founder of Pandemic Action Network, will moderate the conversation.  

Can't make it to this live event? World Affairs Council Members who register for this event will have access to the recording for 7 days after the event. Members must register for the event in advance, and the link will be sent out after the event.

Not a World Affairs Council Member yet? Click here to purchase a membership today.

About the Speaker:

Peter J. Hotez, M.D., Ph.D. is Dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine and Professor of Pediatrics and Molecular Virology & Microbiology at Baylor College of Medicine where he is also the Co-director of the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development (CVD) and Texas Children’s Hospital Endowed Chair of Tropical Pediatrics.  He is also University Professor at Baylor University, Fellow in Disease and Poverty at the James A Baker III Institute for Public Policy,  Senior Fellow at the Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs at Texas A&M University, Faculty Fellow with the Hagler Institute for Advanced Studies at Texas A&M University, and Health Policy Scholar in the Baylor Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy.

Dr. Hotez is an internationally-recognized physician-scientist in neglected tropical diseases and vaccine development.  As co-director of the Texas Children’s CVD, he leads a team and product development partnership for developing new vaccines for hookworm infection, schistosomiasis, leishmaniasis,  Chagas disease, and SARS/MERS/SARS-2 coronavirus, diseases affecting hundreds of millions of children and adults worldwide, while championing access to vaccines globally and in the United States.

In December 2021, Dr. Hotez led efforts at the Texas Children’s Center for Vaccine Development to develop a low-cost recombinant protein COVID vaccine for global health, resulting in emergency use authorization in India.

He obtained his undergraduate degree in molecular biophysics from Yale University in 1980 (phi beta kappa), followed by a Ph.D. degree in biochemistry from Rockefeller University in 1986, and an M.D. from Weil Cornell Medical College in 1987.  Dr. Hotez has authored more than 600 original papers and is the author of five single-author books, including Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases (ASM Press); Blue Marble Health: An Innovative Plan to Fight Diseases of the Poor amid Wealth (Johns Hopkins University Press); Vaccines Did Not Cause Rachel’s Autism (Johns Hopkins University Press); and Preventing the Next Pandemic: Vaccine Diplomacy in a Time of Anti-science (Johns Hopkins University Press).

Dr. Hotez served previously as President of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and he is founding Editor-in-Chief of PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases. In 2006 at the Clinton Global Initiative he co-founded the Global Network for Neglected Tropical Diseases to provide access to essential medicines for hundreds of millions of people. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine (Public Health Section) and the American Academy of Arts & Sciences (Public Policy Section).  In 2014-16, he served in the Obama Administration as US Envoy, focusing on vaccine diplomacy initiatives between the US Government and countries in the Middle East and North Africa.  In 2018, he was appointed by the US State Department to serve on the Board of Governors for the US Israel Binational Science Foundation, and is frequently called upon frequently to testify before US Congress. He has served on infectious disease task forces for two consecutive Texas Governors.  For these efforts in 2017 he was named by FORTUNE Magazine as one of the 34 most influential people in health care, while in 2018 he received the Sustained Leadership Award from Research!America. In 2022 Hotez and his colleague Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi were nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for “their work to develop and distribute a low-cost COVID-19 vaccine to people of the world without patent limitation.”

Most recently as both a vaccine scientist and autism parent, he has led national efforts to defend vaccines and to serve as an ardent champion of vaccines going up against a growing national “antivax” threat. In 2019, he received the Award for Leadership in Advocacy for Vaccines from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.  In 2021 he was recognized by scientific leadership awards from the AAMC (Association of American Medical Colleges) and the AMA (American Medical Association), in addition to being recognized by the Anti-Defamation League with its annual Popkin Award for combating antisemitism. Dr. Hotez appears frequently on television (including BBC, CNN, Fox News, and MSNBC), radio, and in newspaper interviews (including the New York Times, USA Today, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal).

About the Moderator:

Gabrielle Fitzgerald is the founder and CEO of Panorama and co-founder of Pandemic Action Network. With decades of experience in philanthropy, advocacy, and coalition building, Gabrielle has become a recognized voice and thought leader on catalytic philanthropy, women’s leadership, and pandemic preparedness and response.

As a platform for social change, Panorama’s mission is to maximize social impact by partnering with visionary leaders to co-develop solutions with audacious thinking and bold action. 

The organization is focused on creating action-oriented partnerships, influencing decision-makers, and facilitating conversations that lead to meaningful collaboration and change for people and the planet. Since its founding in 2017, Panorama has brought much-needed attention and significant funding to complex societal challenges including pandemic preparedness, gender parity in politics, and adolescent mental health. 

Under Gabrielle’s leadership, Panorama has played an instrumental role in the formation of several initiatives, including The Ascend Fund, and The Upswing Fund, and managed dozens of strategic partnerships, collaborative funds, and fiscal sponsorships.

Gabrielle has spent much of her career working to increase awareness, change policies and raise resources in an effort to decrease the number of deaths from infectious diseases. Gabrielle co-founded the Pandemic Action Network,  which drives collective action to end the COVID-19 crisis and ensure the world is prepared for the next pandemic. She is also a founding member of the COVID-19 Action Fund for Africa, a collaboration between more than 30 partners that provided more than 119 million pieces of personal protective equipment to community health workers in sub-Saharan Africa during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Prior to founding Panorama, Gabrielle spent more than a decade working in philanthropy. She directed the $100M Ebola Program at the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation and served as the director of Global Program Advocacy at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. 

Gabrielle spent the early stage of her career in Washington, D.C. She led the public affairs strategy for HIV/AIDS and disaster response at the U.S. Agency for International Development and served as the communications director for the U.S. Committee for Refugees. She also served as a speechwriter for President Clinton at The White House.  

Gabrielle is board president of American Friends of United for Global Mental Health. She holds an M.A. from the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and a B.A. from American University.