Globalization in a Vial

Pandemic Minute: How the value of difference brought us 13.3 billion doses

If you want evidence of the value in differences and how communication can make the world better, you don’t have to look much farther than the vaccines which have brought our world back to us.  Differences between countries mean that trade is useful to both parties.  Communication across countries helped to develop new technology, work out complex manufacturing processes, and administer over 13.3 billion doses of the vaccine globally.[1]

Absolutely perfect image by Freepik

The Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines were developed by a German biotech company founded by a team including 2 individuals of Turkish heritage.  This company collaborated with US-based Pfizer for trials, logistics, and manufacturing, which were conducted initially in two plants: one in Puurs, Belgium, and the other in Kalamazoo, Michigan.  This means that, although the rest of us weren’t traveling, early vaccines ended up taking two transatlantic flights in their manufacturing processes.[2]  In September 2021, certain lipids for the vaccine became hard to find, so plants in Grange Castle, Ireland and Zagreb, Croatia were brought into the process.[3]  With the addition of Germany, as of January 2022, this means that the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID19-vaccine is now manufactured between 11 sites across five countries.  How’s that for a globalization sensation?

If you want more detail on vaccine distribution and globalization, check out this post from Emerging World.