Abstract

Multiple recent announcements of successful Covid-19 vaccine trials have raised expectations of a rapid end to the pandemic. However, the world must pass through several scientific, political and geopolitical checkpoints before successful deployment of any vaccine(s). For example, how should we strategize for first-, second- and third-generation vaccines, how do we use existing political frameworks to make difficult decisions like “who gets the first doses?” and how should the global political economy of health adapt for this and future pandemics? This webinar aims to dissect the science, politics and geopolitics behind the most monumental mass vaccination program in the history of humanity.

About the Speaker

Dr Khor Swee Kheng is a Malaysian physician with international experience in the public, private, non-profit, academic and think-tank sectors. Currently, he is an independent consultant for the World Health Organisation and holds visiting fellowships at the United Nations University International Institute for Global Health (UNU-IIGH) and ISIS Malaysia. Previously, he held progressively senior roles in four practice areas (clinical medicine; refugee & disaster relief; clinical research; and pharma anti-corruption). He was based in Malaysia, Singapore, Dubai, Shanghai and Paris, and covered more than ninety countries across Asia, Africa, Europe and the Middle East. He holds postgraduate degrees in internal medicine (Royal College of Physicians), public health (Berkeley) and public policy (Oxford).