To Develop a Covid-19 Vaccine, Pharma and the Federal Government Will Have to Break Old Patterns

[BeckyDem]

Rachel M. Cohen

March 27 2020, 11:30 a.m.

In 2016, after years of effort and millions of dollars in government investment, a team of Texas scientists finally developed a promising vaccine for SARS, the deadly strain of coronavirus that had infected over 8,000 people worldwide in the early 2000s. But the outbreak that triggered the research had begun and ended, and no one was contracting new cases of the disease anymore. Private industry and governments responded to the request to fund the human clinical trials with unanimity: not interested. And so the SARS vaccine was shelved. “If investments had been made previously, we potentially could have a [coronavirus] vaccine ready to go now,” lead scientist Dr. Peter Hotez told Congress earlier this month.

Scientists are now racing to develop a vaccine for Covid-19, the strain of coronavirus that has quickly upended the world. At least a dozen companies have joined the effort, from multinational giants like GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi, and Johnson & Johnson, to smaller biotech firms like Inovio and Moderna. The latter became the first to give its working vaccine to a healthy adult last week, entering clinical trials with unprecedented speed. The public discourse has revolved mainly around how soon a vaccine could feasibly be ready (at least 18 months) and how much it would cost (unclear).


But if and when a vaccine candidate does get approval from the Food and Drug Administration — or even multiple get approved — then what? Will distributing a vaccine resemble the embarrassing efforts to distribute coronavirus tests? Does the government even have the capacity to manufacture a vaccine as quickly and widely as needed? Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah, asked this question in a coronavirus hearing on March 3, and the answers weren’t encouraging.

https://theintercept.com/2020/03/27/us-government-vaccines-big-pharma/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=The%20Intercept%20Newsletter

[greymattermom]

1. I remember SOS

Sabin Oral Sundays. And receiving the Salk vaccine in school. It can be done.

[Yonnie3]

2. My memories are dim ..

Was that what I got a drop of on a sugar cube, in the late 50s perhaps?

[rurallib]

3. I remember getting the Salk vaccine

OMG the teachers were ecstatic when the nurses came in with the shots. The whole class lined up and away we went. Think I was in 3rd grade.
My parents were so, so relieved.

Vaguely remember the Sabin vaccine. I think we got that at school also.