INCENTIVES FOR NEW VACCINE PRODUCTION: This seems like a good idea:

Under an advance market commitment plan, the G-8 nations would promise to subsidize the purchase of new vaccines — for between $800 million and $6 billion — if pharmaceuticals companies develop ones that meet standards of efficacy and safety. Once the G-8 spends the pledged amount, the drug companies would sell the vaccine at a set discount in the developing world.

The idea is to ensure that companies get a substantial, upfront, government-backed financial incentive to develop the drugs, even if they ultimately have to sell them at a low price. “By restoring appropriate incentives,” advance market commitments “can stimulate private research and investment, accelerate the discovery of new vaccines, save lives and contribute to economic development in a cost-effective way,” Italian Finance Minister Giulio Tremonti wrote in a report to his G-8 colleagues in December.

We certainly need to do something to make new vaccines more available.