How to vaccinate the world’s most vulnerable? Build global partnerships.
Pfizer's partnerships strengthen their ability to deliver vaccines in developing countries.
Pfizer Corporate Responsibility develops programs that help expand global access to medicines by providing direct assistance to underserved populations. Our initiatives include providing product donations and steep discounts that help patients access the medicine they need. We also collaborate with Pfizer business teams and nonprofit organizations to help shape sustainable business models that address affordability and the vast differences in economies around the world.
- Community healthcare workers face many challenges in their work, including often traveling far distances to see their clients
- Pfizer is helping to drive the UN's sustainable development goals through partnerships.
- Pfizer partnered with AMP and the World Health Organization to develop a training program for healthcare workers.
Community healthcare workers are often the only point of contact with the health system in many underserved areas in the developing world. These noble public servants work within the community to bring health coverage closer to people who need it. Millions of babies around the world are at risk every day from vaccine preventable diseases and many of them live in very remote communities. This means that health care workers must sometimes travel long distances over mountains, across desserts and through rivers while carrying vaccine coolers.
These are some of the reasons why Pfizer is proud to partner with organizations that share a vision of increasing the health and well-being of children around the world. Susan Silbermann, Global President of Pfizer Vaccines, recently sat down with Big Think to discuss how the company is helping to improve vaccine access in developing countries.
Pfizer is helping to improve vaccine access
The constraints people face in other countries requires companies to develop more novel and innovative approaches to help improve vaccine access.
So the question for Pfizer was: Tell us what innovating a vaccine means to you?
Silbermann brought a vial to show Big Think what innovation looks like.
"This tiny vial is an incredible testament to scientific innovation. Until 2017, it provided one dose to vaccinate one child. But now it provides four doses and can vaccinate four children. By combining multiple doses into one vial we have reduced the storage space and the shipping requirements."
Innovations like this multi-dose vial are just the beginning of making it easier to get vaccines to children. Here are a few facts that Pfizer wants to help change.
- Sub-saharan Africa bears nearly 25% of the disease burden in the world.
- It only has 3% of the global health workers.
The critical role of health care workers in the developing world
A health care worker administers a vaccine in Malawi.
Photo: Courtesy of Pfizer.
When Pfizer's new multi-dose vial (MDV) became available in 2017 in Gavi countries, it was a priority to ensure health care workers were properly trained. For this, Pfizer partnered up with the AMP and the World Health Organization to develop a pneumococcal conjugate refresher course and new training program for the multi-dose vial.
As part of the partnership program, Pfizer developed a "train the trainer" model that is a tiered system of training. For example, "master trainers" will go on to train the next round of health care workers.
Last year, Pfizer trained over 27,000 health care workers across 15 different countries. And this year, it's extended the program to an additional nine countries with the goal of reaching an additional 17,000 new health care workers by the end of the year.A future dedicated to vaccine development
The overall impact vaccines are having on global public health are astounding. It's been estimated that vaccinations have prevented 26 million cases of childhood infections in the last decade alone.
Right behind clean water, immunizations are the most important health investment we have. Pfizer employees are passionate about vaccine development because they know it will translate into a tremendous public health impact.
Once logistical barriers and other obstacles are overcome, Pfizer believes that we will be working toward building a better future in communities around the world. One the best ways to remove barriers is through working with and supporting partners.
Why partnerships matter
Pfizer supports many projects that work to empower and equip community health workers. It recognizes that supporting health care workers is a critical part of achieving universal health coverage.
Silbermann talked with Big Think about making sure vaccines get to where they are needed.
"We have to make sure that vaccines get to those who need it. I have often said that our job doesn't end when we make a vaccine and ship it to a distribution center. What good is a vaccine if it isn't reaching the people who need it the most?"
Pfizer is a strategic partner of AMP Health (Aspen Management Partnership for Health), a cross sector, public private partnership to strengthen healthcare systems. AMP Health partners with Ministries of Health to help grow community health and immunization programs by providing leadership and management training and has worked in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi, Sierra Leone, and Zambia.
National governments in Sub-Saharan Africa are committed to deploying thousands of community health workers, but often don't have the strategic, managerial, or financial skills to run a large-scale program.
Pfizer believes that professional, supported community health workers play a critical role in reaching underserved populations and that partnering with organizations like AMP Health advances this objective.
The unsung heroes
Vaccines must stay refrigerated as they travel and be stored at very specific temperatures until they are used. Health care workers often worry about the vaccine refrigerators which can be old and if they were to break down the quality of the vaccines could be at risk.
Silbermann told us a story about how a healthcare worker in Ghana ensured vaccines were available in her clinic.
"Let me tell you a story about a healthcare worker in Ghana that we recently met. She works in a clinic in a small village in the Ho region of Ghana which is approximately three hours north of the capital. In her clinic, there is no electricity or running water. These two elements are critical to ensure safe and effective use of medicines. For example, vaccines need to be stored at a specific temperature to maintain their effectiveness and therefore are stored in fridges which are powered by electricity.
"Instead of storing the vaccines in her clinic, the healthcare worker travels one hour each way on the bus to get fresh vaccines and transport them in a cooler. She then works all day at the clinic administering these vaccines and seeing mothers, children and babies. Without the dedication of healthcare workers like this one in Ghana it is very likely that communities of children would not have the opportunity to be vaccinated."
Why is Pfizer so committed to vaccines?
Pfizer colleagues are passionate about vaccine development and innovation because they know it can translate into a tremendous public health impact. Immunization not only saves lives and improves health, it also unlocks the potential of a community—a vaccinated community is not only healthier, research has shown it is stronger and more productive.
Silbermann left us with this thought:
"When I think about the future, I know we can make a significant difference by ensuring that no logistical issue is an obstacle to a child getting vaccinated. But we can't do it alone. We need to work together to build on our experiences and capabilities to make the world a healthier place to live."
Here's what it takes to get vaccines from the lab to the field

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The incredible physics behind quantum computing
Can computers do calculations in multiple universes? Scientists are working on it. Step into the world of quantum computing.
- While today's computers—referred to as classical computers—continue to become more and more powerful, there is a ceiling to their advancement due to the physical limits of the materials used to make them. Quantum computing allows physicists and researchers to exponentially increase computation power, harnessing potential parallel realities to do so.
- Quantum computer chips are astoundingly small, about the size of a fingernail. Scientists have to not only build the computer itself but also the ultra-protected environment in which they operate. Total isolation is required to eliminate vibrations and other external influences on synchronized atoms; if the atoms become 'decoherent' the quantum computer cannot function.
- "You need to create a very quiet, clean, cold environment for these chips to work in," says quantum computing expert Vern Brownell. The coldest temperature possible in physics is -273.15 degrees C. The rooms required for quantum computing are -273.14 degrees C, which is 150 times colder than outer space. It is complex and mind-boggling work, but the potential for computation that harnesses the power of parallel universes is worth the chase.
The disturbing reason some sexual harassment claims are perceived as less credible...
81% of women (and 43% of men) have experienced some form of sexual harassment, according to a separate 2018 study.
- Sexual harassment is defined as behavior that is characterized by the making of unwelcome and inappropriate sexual remarks or physical advances.
- Results of a 2018 survey showed that 81% of women (and 43% of men) had experienced some form of sexual harassment in their lifetime.
- According to a new study published by the American Psychological Association, women who do not fit female stereotypes for beauty are less likely to be seen as victims of sexual harassment, and if they claim they were harassed, they are less likely to be believed.
Women who do not fit typical female beauty stereotypes are less likely to be believed as sexual harassment victims
<img type="lazy-image" data-runner-src="https://assets.rebelmouse.io/eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIsInR5cCI6IkpXVCJ9.eyJpbWFnZSI6Imh0dHBzOi8vYXNzZXRzLnJibC5tcy8yNTQ1NTg4NS9vcmlnaW4uanBnIiwiZXhwaXJlc19hdCI6MTYxMzMwOTI3M30.g_jcERVu9uPRysiJYebwoGkSg62Tti7WiUHLshskYEU/img.jpg?width=1245&coordinates=0%2C438%2C0%2C438&height=700" id="9206e" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="3709bef713dd50c5346f43a13e9f1145" data-rm-shortcode-name="rebelmouse-image" alt="sexual harassment complaint form sexual harassment victim" data-width="1245" data-height="700" />The study conducted a series of 11 multi-method experiments, involving over 4,000 participants.
Image by Andrey Popov on Adobe Stock
<p><a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-01/apa-shc011221.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">According to a new study</a> published by the American Psychological Association, women who do not fit female stereotypes for beauty are less likely to be seen as victims of sexual harassment, and if they claim they were harassed, they are less likely to be believed.</p><p>"Sexual harassment is pervasive and causes significant harm, yet far too many women cannot access fairness, justice, and legal protection, leaving them susceptible to further victimization and harm within the legal system," says Cheryl Kaiser, Ph.D., of the University of Washington and a co-author of the study says to <a href="https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2021-01/apa-shc011221.php" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Eurekalert.</a></p><p>According to Kaiser, sexual harassment claims were deemed less credible (and the harassment was perceived as less psychologically harmful) when it targeted a victim who was less attractive and/or did not act according to the stereotype of a typical woman. </p><p><strong>The study conducted a series of 11 multi-method experiments, involving over 4,000 participants.<br></strong>This study was designed to investigate the effects a victim's fit to the concept of a typical woman had on participants' view of sexual harassment (and the consequences of that mental association).</p><p><strong>In five experiments, participants read scenarios in which women either did or did not experience sexual harassment.<br></strong>Participants assessed the extent to which these women fit the idealized image of women, either by drawing what they thought the woman might look like or selecting from a series of photos. Across all experiments, participants perceived the targets of sexual harassment as more stereotypical than those who did not experience harassment.</p><p><strong>In the next four experiments, participants were shown ambiguous sexual harassment scenarios which were then paired with descriptions or photos of women who were either stereotypical or not.<br></strong>The participants then rated the likelihood that the incident constituted sexual harassment. According to another author of the study, participants were less likely to label these ambiguous scenarios as sexual harassment when the targets were non-stereotypical women (compared with stereotypical women), despite the fact that, in some cases, the incident was the exact same.</p><p><strong>The final two experiments in this study found that sexual harassment claims were often viewed as less credible when the victim adhered less to the typical female stereotype.<br></strong>Even when a stereotypical woman and non-stereotypical woman submitted the same claim, it was deemed as less credible if the woman was perceived as less feminine. Additionally, the participants found the harassment to be deemed as less psychologically harmful when experienced by a non-stereotypical female.</p><p><em>"Our findings demonstrate that non-stereotypical women who are sexually harassed may be vulnerable to unjust and discriminatory treatment when they seek legal recourse," </em>co-author Bryn Bandt-Law, a doctoral student at the University of Washington, explains in an interview to Eurekalert. <em>"</em></p><p><em>If women's nonconformity to feminine stereotypes biases perceptions of their credibility and harm caused by harassment, as our results suggest, it could prevent non-stereotypical women who are sexually harassed from receiving the civil rights protections afforded to them by law."</em><br></p><p><strong>**If you or someone you know has experienced sexual harassment or assault, contact the <a href="https://www.rainn.org/about-national-sexual-assault-telephone-hotline" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">National Sexual Assault Telephone Hotline</a> at 800-656-4673. You are not alone.**</strong></p>


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