COVAX, the bold initiative to vaccinate 40% of the world against COVID-19 by 2021, has been labeled a failure because it did not reach its targets. Back in the 2000s, the “3 by 5 initiative” to provide 3 million people with anti-HIV medication by 2005 also did not reach its target. Yet, arguably, the legacy of the initiative has been profound. Will the same be true for COVAX?
In the early 2000s, as I worked my way through my graduate degrees in medical virology in the field of HIV, a battle was brewing to expand access to lifesaving HIV treatment. That battle would also change my perspective on what's possible, for years to come.
Antiretroviral treatment, the highly effective combination treatment against HIV that transforms the infection from a death sentence to a manageable chronic condition, was discovered in the mid-1990s. By the early 2000s, only 685,000 people living with HIV in the world had access to it, and fewer than 1% were in sub-Saharan Africa.