Can you invest in vaccines? Or do you just invest in the company who then decides what to do with your money?
Public money plays a huge part in vaccine development - as it does in a lot of medical R&D. So we fund the development while Pfizer takes the profits
You can invest in the companies - if they're public, they'll have a published strategy of where they invest their money, how much into R&D and into which areas. If you'd like to only invest in the projects that will lead to a successful vaccine, I'm sure they'd love to know how to pick those.
Or if you like, you can set up your own company and pitch to the research organisations and universities who do a lot of the early-stage research, to licence their ideas - that way you'll get straight to the source. Mind you, you'll need to outbid the Big Pharma companies who have the skills in commercialising these ideas. And any half-decent research organisation or university has a Business Development team who make sure that they are well reimbursed for their ideas. Yes, those organisations are publically funded, and rightly so, but if their IP leads to a pandemic-busting vaccine, they'll be well compensated.
Of course Big Pharma wants to make money - but I'm happy if they now think there's more money in vaccines, rather than developing a better Viagra.