The Key to the Vaccine

Amidst the spread of Coronavirus (Covid-19), countries are scrambling to create a vaccine.
​Who will create it first, and will they distribute it freely and equally?

My heart goes out to those affected by Covid-19, especially those who've passed and their loved ones. I must admit I'm increasingly worried about the ease of spread and the elderly especially, but also about the sociopolitical fallout: mass hysteria leading to shortages of food and supplies, mob mentality, increasing xenophobia and racism, and something my cynical self has always been worried about: the hoarding of medical supplies and vaccines, once they're developed, by one country or another, and the potential abuse of power that comes with a monopoly.
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Natural disasters and nuclear warfare are often considered the greatest threats to humanity, but pandemics or biological warfare often worry me more. Lack of infrastructure paired with inaccurate information and/or inadequate leadership is regrettable, but the use of health as a commodity and political bargaining tool is detestable. This happens now on both a national and international scale and always will, whether in the form of natural resources, military support, humanitarian aid, health care, medicine (easily evidenced by Big Pharma monopolies - case in point: Martin Shkreli), etc. We've already seen countries' slow or laughably small contributions to the cure and containment of diseases in other countries (i.e. the US's response to Ebola) when it isn’t beneficial to them to provide assistance. hoping that the world will someday work together more quickly, and treat all equally.