I think there's a lot to commend this idea https://thebulwark.com/the-u-s-should-vaccinate-the-world/ April 6 2021 7:52 AM The U.S. Should Vaccinate the World by Dalibor Rohac Few things warm the cockles of one’s heart these days as the images of normal life returning to places such as Israel, where more than half of the population has been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Yet, with just 673 million doses administered globally so far, the prospect of normalcy remains out of reach for the vast majority of humankind—and not just its poorest segments. The European Union is still struggling with vaccination, due to a combination of mishaps and bad management. In Australia, population 25 million, only 850,000 doses vaccine doses have been administered—far below the government’s original goal of 4 million doses by the end of March. In New Zealand, 1.4 doses have been administered per 100 people; in Japan, the figure is 0.9 doses per 100 people; in Taiwan, it’s just 0.1 doses per 100 people. At the current pace, it may take years to reach global herd immunity. In the meantime, the world will become poorer, sicker, less economically interconnected, and more conflict-prone than it would otherwise be. America should not allow that to happen. The international efforts to buy and distribute the vaccine to poorer countries are inadequate. Gavi and COVAX, the main global partnerships to disseminate the vaccines, are seeking to distribute just 2 billion doses by the end of this year, relying on a modest funding target of a little over $11 billion for 2020 and 2021—with $4 billion pledged by the Biden administration. We should do more. Much more. The United States ought to commit to vaccinating the whole world this year—not, or not just, as an act of charity but as an act of self-interest and leadership. The longer it takes to reach herd immunity on a global scale, the longer we will have to live with travel restrictions and “vaccine passports,” not to speak of face masks, nasal swabs, and quarantines. The longer the wait, the more two-tiered the world, even many advanced societies, will become—with the amenities of normal life denied to large segments of the population. More worryingly, the larger the pockets of the world in which the virus continues to circulate, the greater the potential for new strains, possibly including strains resistant to the vaccines now available. Ending this global predicament would be a bargain relative to other big-ticket items coming out of Washington these days, including the $1.9-trillion relief bill enacted last month and the infrastructure spending package now envisaged by President Biden, pegged at $2 trillion. One shot of the Pfizer vaccine, the most expensive of those currently on offer, costs the U.S. government $19.50. That would be $312 billion for 16 billion shots, more than needed to vaccinate everyone on earth and solve the world’s most pressing problem once and for all. In comparison, in the United States alone, the pandemic might cumulatively cost $16 trillion—if it is over by this fall, that is. According to the IMF, global output will be lower by $28 trillion over 2020-2025 as a result of the pandemic. A study by the International Chamber of Commerce estimates that world GDP will be reduced by $9.2 trillion if vaccines are not distributed to poorer parts of the world fast enough. There are significant bottlenecks to scaling up vaccine production. In normal times, building and staffing new pharmaceutical factories takes months or years. For companies such as Pfizer or Johnson & Johnson to involve outside partners in the proprietary steps of actually producing the vaccine requires the extensive sharing of intellectual property, which such companies are understandably reluctant to do—unless they are incentivized by public policy, as in the case of Merck’s partnership with Johnson & Johnson, arranged with the help of the Biden administration, in which Merck will help with the J&J vaccine’s production, formulation, and filling of vials, with federal funding provided under the Defense Production Act. The effort to put the U.S. economy on a war footing during the Second World War faced significant bottlenecks as well, and the Roosevelt administration used every possible tool—persuasion, incentives, regulations, and outright commandeering—to meet the challenge. The current moment calls for a similar degree of urgency and willingness to commit real resources. Few things can help American workers and companies as much as dramatically raising the growth potential of the global economy by stamping out this pandemic. The move also would buy America an unprecedented amount of political goodwill around the world, which the U.S. government could cash in at its discretion—to build a stronger global coalition to contain China and to improve the global trading system to help America’s working classes, to name just two examples. Our adversaries, China and Russia, are already using the vaccine drought in Europe and elsewhere for their “vaccine diplomacy,” hoping for favors from America’s desperate allies, including Italy, Slovakia, and Hungary. The United States has the means to push back. Of course, there would be any number of other complexities involved in a successful global-scale vaccination effort. Some of those complexities, like prioritization, are unavoidable. But many other problems can be left to others to solve. We need not send medical professionals around the world to administer the vaccines; it is enough to produce and ship them, and to offer advice and expertise to governments willing to handle the logistical aspects of distributing and administering doses. Eradicating COVID-19 through a U.S.-led vaccination program is neither an overambitious fool’s errand nor a vanity project. It is a straightforward, cost-effective solution to the world’s most pressing problem—and a political opportunity waiting to be seized by leaders who dare to think big. Vaccinating the whole world quickly is eminently technologically feasible, relatively inexpensive, and guaranteed to galvanize public opinion in support of the United States against our autocratic foes. Let’s go big and—not for the first time in history—save the world.
I agree with this. There are a number of reasons why.... it would end up helping the US economy, it would help relations with various parts of the world and it would allow the US to flex her muscle again.
Yeah , so right now the third world can choose from a vaccine from CHINA or RUSSIA or Blood Clotting UK hmmm
Yeah, this is a missed opportunity if the US doesn't step up. It's about the cheapest and easiest way to win hearts and minds and shift global power. Within a month or two, the US will be fully vaccinated (for anyone that wants it). The US should target allies first to rebuild relationships and then figuring out key strategic partners. If they want to play hardball, the US can say "we'll provide you X vaccines and Y logistical help - we need Z in return" in terms of pushing strategic relationships.
This message was brought to you by Pfizer. So many people in the US are afraid of the vaccine we won't even cover our own country. Vaccinating the rest of the world is a pipe dream. I say we stay the course and spend all our discretionary income on the military and brainstorm new ways to bomb people. On second thought, the virus killing people in poor countries is infringing on the military industrial complexes business model, so corporate socialism to boost the profits of big-pharma to protect the profits of big-death, win-win! And this is a protectionists wet dream. Who needs tariffs when we will be first to vaccinate. While the rest of the world is struggling, we will be ready and able. Think of all the factory jobs that will come back to the US while foreign factory workers die of Covid. All in all a very poor idea. In fact, while we have pharma superiority, we should be creating new viruses to let loose on the world.
For that price why not, just 1.5% of our GDP. Time for all those US mega entrepreneurs to show us how charitable they are, a small one-time wealth tax of just 2% for people with a net worth of 50+ million would cover the majority of it.
vacCINE the WORLLLLLD! vacCINE the CHILDrennnn! We are the ones who make a Pfizer day! So let's start jabbin'!
Yes, it is the moral thing to do ( I know who gives a **** as morality is limited to lower taxes for "freedom", abortion and prayer meetings), Also it will help with winning "hearts and minds" in a way that drone wars, punishing sanctions and arm sales to friendly with government.
Europe bought out 3x the needed supplies. Not sure how much surplus US will have in 4 months. That probably set back vaccination for other countries by at least half a year, so giving out leftovers for free probably the wisest thing to do, esp with how quickly the thing mutates. Old vaccines might have an expiration date, but at least the process with the mrna model is fairly quick to adjust. The article mentions China's efforts to give away their vaccines, but with a ~50% efficacy rate, the countries benefitting from that policy aren't see any benefits in their infection rates. Quality still matters.
The Biden Admin is committed to buying enough vaccines for every American but we know that not every American will take them. A lot of polling shows that possibly 30% of the US population won't take the vaccine under any circumstances. That's about 100 million people. We can't store leftover vaccine indefinitely so rather waste that should go to other countries. A 100 million is more than the the population of Columbia, Ecuador and Peru or more than the population of Central America. Helping them deal with COVID-19 isn't just moral but also will help us on several fronts such as trade and immigration .
"How Joe Biden could vaccinate the world": https://theweek.com/articles/981550/how-joe-biden-could-vaccinate-world excerpt: There is every reason for the U.S. government to simply build and own a permanent, large vaccine factory — both for jacking up production immediately, and to keep on hand for the future. In the context of the staggering damage the pandemic has inflicted on the global economy, the cost would be microscopic, only about $4 billion. As Krellenstein and Urrutia explain, the Moderna vaccine is the best candidate for mass production, because it is easier to scale up, more temperature-stable, easier to adapt to variants, and the American government already owns some of the intellectual property rights. (Moderna could also be hired to operate the facility.) As they write, "For less than the U.S. government spends on the COVID-19 response daily, it can build a facility to produce enough mRNA vaccine manufacturing capacity to vaccinate the entire world in one year, with each dose costing only $2." Building a huge vaccine factory would also be handy in that it could be started immediately. The WTO is a sluggish organization, and while the Biden administration may be able to pressure the Germans into agreeing to a TRIPS waiver, it could take months, and then months more for other countries to start ramping up afterwards. That is time the world does not have. The Indian health care system is buckling under the explosion of coronavirus variant cases, and other countries could be next. As I have previously argued, this is a dire threat not only to humanity around the world, but to Americans as well. A new variant could emerge that gets around all the vaccines, and the U.S. would be back at square one with a new pandemic. more at the link
It has been mentioned in the OP but both China and Russia have been donating and selling their own vaccines in potential allies they want to influence while they haven't even vaccinated half their own. Last time I checked Russia was at 7% and China at 12% Extremely pitiful numbers. But at the same time they have both donated and flooded countries like Hungary, Serbia, Turkey, Uruguay and some african countries with their home made vaccines, playing the saviour.. Our near neighbour Serbia here was the european country with most vaccines doses per person Multiple times their population. They had Sputnik, Sino and they also got donations from AZ and Pfizer from the EU It got to the point that they started vaccination tourism. Come to Serbia for a weekend and receive your free jab. At the same time the Serbian president came tearing up in front of all country media thanking their dear friend China who saved them. The US did the right thing to prioritise their own citizens but where is it now? At the very least instead of talking about patent waver the US should talk about stoping the banning of vaccine exports and components. Since there are thousands of doses of AZ vaccines rotting away in storehouses they can start by donating those.
