Opinion: Vaccine innovation is a critical response to the climate crisis

The relationship between climate change and the prevalence and severity of infectious diseases has grown increasingly evident over the past 15 years. Despite mounting evidence, this has not yet directly translated into the increased demand forecasting for innovative vaccines and immunization solutions that could help mitigate the impact.

The pharmaceutical sector has a part to play in combating the effects of climate change, not least in efforts to reduce our carbon footprint by improving manufacturing, packaging, and shipping solutions.

However, beyond these industrial steps, we believe that vaccination and vaccine innovation can play a key role in addressing complex health care challenges induced by the climate crisis, especially through the prevention and control of climate-sensitive infectious diseases.

First, there is the obvious link between preventative care — vaccination — and patient care pathway decarbonization. Care pathways — meaning the delivery of health care, that is, the ability of a patient to access care, whether acute or chronic, in their specific geographies — are responsible for over 40% of health care sector carbon dioxide emissions. Vaccination — for example, with the flu vaccine — can play an important role in reducing the environmental impact of health care systems by averting hospitalization and outpatient visits. This, in turn, can decrease the carbon footprint associated with infectious diseases.

Sanofi is committed to collaborating across the health care sector to drive concrete actions to reduce emissions in health care systems. Stakeholders need to act together: by prioritizing health care policies and actions within the policy agenda to reduce carbon emissions; measuring and tracking progress on reducing carbon emissions along the patient journey; and recognizing and rewarding the value of medicines and vaccines that help reduce carbon emissions by including environmental impact as an additional criterion in any value assessment and access conditions.

Second, vaccines can help improve people’s general health resilience against climate hazards. Access to innovative immunization products, as well as novel technologies and digitalized manufacturing platforms, are key for pandemic and epidemic preparedness and responsiveness, at a time when the climate crisis is visibly increasing the threat of future pandemics.

We know that the changing environment, especially warmer weather, rising sea levels, and changing water and air quality is exacerbating the prevalence and severity of certain infectious diseases, posing life-threatening public health risks to large populations.

For example, researchers have predicted that the Aedes aegypti mosquito, the vector of yellow fever, dengue, chikungunya, and Zika, might be able to reach cities such as Chicago and Shanghai by 2050, driven by warmer temperatures and the right conditions for the mosquito to breed. This scenario would put nearly 50% of the world’s population at risk of vector-borne diseases transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes.    

To better prepare for a scenario such as the above and create a climate-resilient health system, a scale-up of the current capabilities for health emergency preparedness and responsiveness is imperative. Our continued investments in innovation and our portfolio of new vaccines — such as our new vaccine in development against yellow fever — are complemented by an increase in pandemic preparedness capabilities, with investments in mRNA technologies, and in our leading-edge agile manufacturing Evolutive Facilities, EVF for short, or “smart factories.”

These fully digitalized factories will enable more responsive and flexible manufacturing across multiple vaccine and biological platforms, including mRNA, while minimizing our impact on the environment. EVF will help answer rapidly evolving global health needs by giving people faster access to more vaccines and treatments. Moreover, EVF will be nearly carbon-neutral by using green electricity or power from the facilities’ own solar panels.

However, as in all industries, innovation must be continuously fueled by a favorable ecosystem that recognizes and incentivizes the value of new platforms, processes, and products.

Collective efforts to move forward

While there is no vaccine for the climate crisis itself, there are safe and effective vaccines against a variety of climate-sensitive diseases.

A healthy vaccine ecosystem must appreciate the role of vaccines in decarbonizing care pathways and building health resilience in the context of the climate crisis.

How? Through the following:

1. By recognizing the value of vaccines in addressing climate-sensitive infectious disease.

2. By securing reliable demand signals and forecasting.

These will incentivize manufacturers to sustain investments in the continuous improvement of vaccines, the development and manufacturing of new vaccines, and innovative production processes to address future and emerging diseases at scale and on time.

Looking ahead, I urge us all to join forces in unleashing the full potential of innovation to protect the health of people and the planet.

Visit the Planet Health series for more in-depth reporting on the current impact of the climate crisis on human health around the world. Join the conversation by using the hashtag #PlanetHealth.