What do you think?
Rate this book
Fair Doses: An Insider's Story of the Pandemic and the Global Fight for Vaccine Equity
How vaccines became the world's most powerful and widely distributed health intervention, and the inside story of the challenging race to deliver COVID-19 vaccines globally.
Fair Doses is a story of how they came about, why they are important, and how they have been made globally available—although our quest for vaccine equity is still ongoing. In this fascinating deep dive into vaccines, Dr. Seth Berkley, an internationally recognized infectious disease epidemiologist and public health leader, offers an inside view of the challenges of developing and disseminating vaccines for a broad swath of illnesses, from Ebola to AIDS to malaria and beyond.
COVID-19 was a lesson about the devastation a novel virus can bring on our world. When the first signs of the spread of this new infection appeared, Berkley co-created COVAX, a global initiative aimed at ensuring equitable COVID vaccine distribution. The COVAX team had to navigate vaccine nationalism, vaccine diplomacy, intentional disinformation, political forces, and the conflicting incentives of vaccine companies in its race against the virus. In record time, the group organized 193 countries, built the world's largest portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines, raised more than $12 billion, and delivered two billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to 146 countries.
Future pandemics are an evolutionary inevitability, and future global response needs to be much faster and more equitable. Drawing from his personal experience, Berkley lays out a bold vision of preparedness that will help the global community take advantage of rapid advancements in science to make our world safer from infectious diseases.
Fair Doses is a story of how they came about, why they are important, and how they have been made globally available—although our quest for vaccine equity is still ongoing. In this fascinating deep dive into vaccines, Dr. Seth Berkley, an internationally recognized infectious disease epidemiologist and public health leader, offers an inside view of the challenges of developing and disseminating vaccines for a broad swath of illnesses, from Ebola to AIDS to malaria and beyond.
COVID-19 was a lesson about the devastation a novel virus can bring on our world. When the first signs of the spread of this new infection appeared, Berkley co-created COVAX, a global initiative aimed at ensuring equitable COVID vaccine distribution. The COVAX team had to navigate vaccine nationalism, vaccine diplomacy, intentional disinformation, political forces, and the conflicting incentives of vaccine companies in its race against the virus. In record time, the group organized 193 countries, built the world's largest portfolio of COVID-19 vaccines, raised more than $12 billion, and delivered two billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines to 146 countries.
Future pandemics are an evolutionary inevitability, and future global response needs to be much faster and more equitable. Drawing from his personal experience, Berkley lays out a bold vision of preparedness that will help the global community take advantage of rapid advancements in science to make our world safer from infectious diseases.
- GenresHealthScienceNonfiction
408 pages, Hardcover
Published October 28, 2025
5 people are currently reading
251 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
January 3, 2026
Seth has done a great service to the world by writing this insider’s account of the global response to the pandemic. The UK COVID inquiry report published on 20 November reminded us – in case anyone needed it – that vaccines were essential to the pandemic response. Countries which could not get early access to vaccines needed them too, and that’s why COVAX was established.
As someone involved in the hard grind of COVAX, I feel proud of what we achieved, despite the disappointments and challenges.
But leaving aside my personal response, this is essential reading for anyone looking to understand global health right now and how we should tackle the next pandemic. Seth describes the battles to secure vaccines for the world, including neglected parts of the story like how vaccine producers got indemnified. While during and since the pandemic there has been progress in vaccine science, other issues remain unaddressed and will slow down the response to next one.
As someone involved in the hard grind of COVAX, I feel proud of what we achieved, despite the disappointments and challenges.
But leaving aside my personal response, this is essential reading for anyone looking to understand global health right now and how we should tackle the next pandemic. Seth describes the battles to secure vaccines for the world, including neglected parts of the story like how vaccine producers got indemnified. While during and since the pandemic there has been progress in vaccine science, other issues remain unaddressed and will slow down the response to next one.
August 19, 2025
This book told a great story about COVAX specifically and global vaccination programs more generally. I found the story fascinating; the complexity of the COVAX program is astounding and Dr. Berkeley does a great job writing about it. While I found some of the story very complicated, there is, to me, no other way to tell it. From pharmaceutical companies to NGOs to national governments to worldwide health organizations, Berkley weaves a compelling summary of all the major players. Even better, this story is coming from a world leader in vaccinations and the leader of the COVAX program. I think that the book provides an excellent template for future pandemics. Thank you to Edelweiss and University of California Press for the advance reader copy.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews