COVID vaccines and global cooperation

COVID-19 vaccinations are the talk of the town right now. Everyone is wondering when and how it will be distributed, will it work? what's it made from? and so on... What makes this vaccine particularly interesting is the global communication and partnership required. This vaccine is necessary for people all over the world, as fast as possible.  Keeping this fact in mind can help understanding the global involvement. The production of the vaccine is being worked on by experts and laboratories all over the world. The world's largest vaccine maker, The Serum Institute of India, has begun one of the most risky gambles in the quest for COVID-19 vaccines. They're planning to distribute mass amounts of a presumed vaccine before trails have concluded. While this may be good or bad, people are wondering if the vaccine will be contained in India, or if it will be distributed globally. This situation shows one of the largest battles with global vaccine endeavors. Ones loyalty to their "own people" and "personal finances" vs. global responsibility. There's no evidence that they will try to contain the vaccine, but it's a fear people have right now. The Oxford designed vaccine is one of many vaccines that will be mass produced in factories all around the world. There are scientists from all over the world working in labs to produce this vaccine right now. There has been numerous partnerships made between these companies in order to be most efficient. American and European governments have devoted funds to these projects, as well as making deals with major pharmaceutical companies to churn these out faster. I think these examples show how the production of a COVID-19 vaccine has become a global endeavor. It is not a system contained to just one region, or one peoples. It involves every country, working together, to help get to the common end goal. 

In distribution of COVID-19, there has been a recent notice in the requirements for shipment. These vaccines need to be kept at freezing temperatures (some as low as negative 80 degrees Celsius) until they are injected. This poses a question people all around the world are trying to solve together. How can we efficiently ship and store these materials at that temperature? Companies such as UPS and FED EX are currently working on stores to keep these frozen. The main idea being to create a "freezer farm", this has become so global that something similar is being created in the Netherlands. Pfizer has created a chamber for their vaccines to travel in. The glass making company, Corning, is creating a glass vial that could withstand the freezing temperatures. These are just a few examples of the mass global communication and teamwork happening in order to distribute the vaccine to everyone. 

The production of a COVID-19 vaccine has, and will continue to involve other people and places. This is because this vaccine is of most importance at this moment. Most other things have been moved to the back burner in order to focus on it. Factories, such as the Corning glass factory, are now predominately focusing on a new glass technique. This has effected the people working there, and the area around them because of new resources needed. Every single person and place is affected by the production, whether it's first hand or second hand. The first hand people being directly affected (such as the workers) and second hand people being those dealing with higher taxes and such. 

All in all, the global production and distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine requires complete global communication and cooperation. It's been most interesting to witness many countries come together to address the common issue and debate on how to fix it. This shows the underlying humanity that is so often forgot in the "them vs us" mindset present. People have forgotten that there is no real difference between individuals that live elsewhere. This pandemic and the production of this vaccine has brought this back to their attention. One nation could not produce and distribute a vaccine by itself. The cooperation and knowledge of those all over the world is needed.