A Coronavirus Vaccine Is On The Way. Thanks To Capitalism.
Of all the politicians using the coronavirus to advance their agendas, no one is more shameless than socialist Bernie Sanders.
During a Democratic debate in February the man who honeymooned in the USSR cited the virus as a reason to push his $30 trillion Medicare-for-all proposal.
As if that would slow down the virus or provide superior health care for those afflicted.
Then, on Sunday, he jumped on Twitter to demand that when a vaccine is perfected it should be - wait for it - free!
Yippee! Just like college and student loans and tampons.
Like all good socialists, Bernie is always quick to toss out emotional bromides that appeal to those with the intellectual curiosity of bovines.
How exactly would free vaccines work?
Sanders didn’t say.
Perhaps he envisions confiscating the vaccine from the pharmaceutical company that develops the vaccine and giving it away to the masses.
Fidel would certainly approve.
Not so sure that ending all future American pharmaceutical research and development - which would surely result if the government seized a drug ready for market - would be good for mankind, though.
Perhaps Sanders wants the federal government to purchase all of the vaccine and distribute it.
A case could be made for that.
But let’s be clear, if the government buys the vaccine and distributes it to the public, the vaccine isn’t free. It’s taxpayer-funded.
Bernie’s bloviations are typical of the far-left and their perpetual caterwauling about “Big Pharma.”
As someone whose life was saved at 16 by powerful antibiotics, I know I am forever in debt to Big Pharma.
Chances are, you or someone you love owes their health to drugs developed by corporations.
If you know anyone with diabetes, Big Pharma keeps them alive. If you know anyone undergoing chemo, Big Pharma is trying to kill their cancer and extend their lifespans.
Shoot, those of us smart enough to get a flu shot every year can thank Big Pharma for keeping us out of the ER.
In fact, the top 10 pharmaceutical companies in America spend in excess of $100 billion a year on research and development. Only about a third of their funds come from any government source.
These companies do enormous public good, while keeping shareholders happy. They are not perfect and reforms are needed to lower the price of drugs in America. But not the sort of radical remedies Sanders favors.
From the moment the coronavirus emerged in China, scientists raced to find a vaccine.
The first to succeed were with Moderna, a drug manufacturer in Norwood, Massachusetts. On Feb. 7 the company sent 500 vials of a COVID-19 vaccine for testing to the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases in Bethesda. The drug could be ready for human trials next month.
The Wall Street Journal, in a piece headlined “Drugmaker Moderna Delivers First Experimental Coronavirus Vaccine for Human Testing,” reported that the chief executive of this 10-year-old American company first heard about the virus while vacationing in France in early January.
Moderna, which develops drugs and vaccines based on “messenger RNA” went to work immediately.
“Moderna’s turnaround time in producing the first batch of the vaccine after learning the new virus’s genetic sequence in January - is a stunningly fast response to an emerging outbreak,” the WSJ reported.
“If a trial starts as planned in April, it would be about three months from vaccine design to human testing. In comparison, after an outbreak of an older coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome, in China in 2002, it took about 20 months.”
Like it or not, this is capitalism at work.
In fact, this is one instance where the profit motive and the public good intersect in a way that could benefit nearly everyone on the planet.
“As many as 100 manufacturing and quality-control employees were involved in the effort (at Moderna), many working nights and weekends. As manufacturing ramped up, the company’s leaders had frequent meetings, calls and WhatsApp messaging chains to monitor progress,” the WSJ reported.
I doubt those 100 employees were working for free. They should be well-compensated for their efforts. If the vaccine works, they ought to get juicy bonuses.
How would Bernie reward them? A weekend in Havana?
"Going into a phase one trial within three months of getting the sequence is unquestionably the world indoor record,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the NIAID gushed to the Wall Street Journal. “ Nothing has ever gone that fast. …"
Someone tell Bernie Sanders that a coronavirus vaccine was developed in record time because of two things: competition and capitalism.
Let’s all hope it’s safe and effective.
