In the aftermath of the September 11 terror attacks, President George W Bush guaranteed that the US would pay $5.6bn for the production of vaccines and other countermeasures against bioterrorism.
That funding model, which led to the development of novel smallpox and anthrax prophylactics, will soon be deployed in the fight against Covid-19, as organisations including the World Bank and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation rush to underwrite the enormous costs of vaccine efforts.
But with more than 80 coronavirus vaccine candidates being developed around the globe, billions of dollars will have to be spent on preparing manufacturing facilities for several candidates, including some that will never make it to market.