Future disease outbreaks are inevitable. AIDS remains a pandemic. The impact of COVID-19 continues to reverberate. Humanity is in an era characterized by high and persistent inequality and accelerating risk of disease outbreaks and pandemics. Over the last two years, the Global Council on Inequality, AIDS and Pandemics undertook research, reviewed evidence and engaged in policy forums around the world. These efforts revealed that high inequality, both within and between countries, and global vulnerability to pandemics reinforce each other. This cycle helps explain why remarkable advances in science are failing to keep the world safer from pandemics.