Under the vaccine proposal, the U.S. would increase development funding for certain vaccines, including those against hepatitis B and other deadly diseases. It would then encourage the World Bank and other global organizations to follow suit. The U.S. would also increase its budget to develop vaccines for malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Finally, the government would institute a tax-credit system designed to reward private companies that produce new vaccines.

"The value of creating and selling such a vaccine is twice what it normally would be," Sachs said.

Sachs said many scientists believe a malaria vaccine could be developed within 10 years.

"But the level of effort going into that is low," he said.

The people who need such vaccines tend to be poor, Sachs said. The initiative would create a "virtual market" for them.

Sachs, the former director of the Harvard Institute for International Development (HIID), says he expects to trek to Washington this spring to support the effort before Congress.

"The center is putting a tremendous amount of effort into understanding what is happening in the very poorest countries in the world and trying to find useful policy responses," said Sachs, who is also Stone Professor of International Trade.