Replies to post #372263 on Tornado Alley (PROG)

[DragonBear]

Still amazing how well they did with the vaccines and how fast

Not really. Start with the mRNA technology. For years they couldn't figure out how to deliver the mRNA to the cell, without the mRNA being degraded. That problem was worked out by 2017. A technology Moderna, and a yr later Pfizer was trying to find a home for. Both thinking Flu as one target.

Stir in the first ingredient or the EUA that was finalized during the last days of the Obama Administration. The only surprising part there was that tRUMP didn't try to get rid of it. Guess, like many of his followers he would have found it boring. That takes the usual clinical trials from 5-7 yrs for a new vaccine down to a 6 month trial, in times of a declared emergency.

Finally stir in the not so unusual - free market capitalism. N billion projected doses at $20-40/dose equals profit. So no, speed to market is not surprising at all. Pharma treatments are always a race to market. Early worm gets bird. In this case helped by having a new technology at the ready, and the EUA as the mechanism to get it to market.

And what did our hero tRUMP contribute. He allowed the HHS Secretary to declare an emergency, and then flocked up the distribution of the vaccine.