In market economies, governments have historically adopted policies that allowed the private sector to thrive, providing a legal and economic framework that have resulted in economic growth and prosperity. Due to efforts to privatize certain formerly public functions, the private sector has assumed an increasingly important role in the delivery of basic services, such as health and education during the past few decades. While this development was only partially successful and often faced stiff opposition from the public it has also proven to be quite successful on numerous occasions. During the Covid-19 pandemic private corporations supported government agencies in their immunization campaign efforts. In India, the Serum Institute of India signed a contract with AstraZeneca to manufacture 1 billion doses of CoviShield for low- and middle-income countries. Similar contracts for vaccine manufacturing are being designed and implemented with local companies in Africa, which will hopefully expand vaccine supply for the continent.1
The private sector successfully intervened during the pandemic and supported government efforts to tackle the pandemic can be found in unexpected areas – for example the drone industry. The use of unmanned aerial vehicles to deliver life-saving medical supplies was already proven to be feasible before the onset of the pandemic. In remote and isolated communities, this new technology operated by the private sector in coordination with governments (which often introduced new, more lenient airspace-related regulations to facilitate the quick deployment of the technology). This proved to be crucial to deliver personal protective equipment, test kits, and return lab samples in a timely manner.
