Vaccines are among the most cost-effective tools we have for preserving public health and are widely and effectively used to prevent the spread of disease. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization called upon the international scientific society to collaborate under the WHO Research and Development Blueprint, an action which established one of the most successful ever international collaborations in Science, Technology and Innovation.

As result of several institutions accepting this challenge, technologies such as the protocols which led to the development of vaccines and testing for COVID-19 were developed. Technologies which are now helping the world to overcome the current pandemic.

In contrast to this cooperative action, there is also a "War on Vaccines” going on. Fuelled by revenue competition, nationalism and geopolitical rationales which conflict with the principle of vaccines as public goods, this war sees a divergence from global solidarity and fosters the ideological and political use of social media and fake news to hinder vaccine acceptance.

In this online side event, coordinated by Paulo Gadelho (Coordinator of the Fiocruz Strategy for the 2030 Agenda), speakers discussed the challenges vaccines have brought to Science, Technology and Innovation during the COVID-19 pandemic. They also shared Science, Technology and Innovation insights relating to the SDGs with regard to the six entry points into the High-level Political Forum on sustainable development.