Moving the needle

American enterprise to the rescue

JUST IN time, on the heels of all the criticism, after being accused of being mean to poor countries, the current American administration announces it’s investing billions to buy vaccine doses for other countries.

And this time, the word “investing” actually means it, instead of just being used as a synonym for spending. It will be an investment for Americans to fight this covid-19 bug overseas to prevent future surges here. As this president puts it, to beat the pandemic here, we must beat it everywhere.

Last week critics of Big Pharma made headlines after they figured out that the drug companies, combined, were making $1K a second in profit from the various covid-19 vaccines that they’d put on the market. Some of us don’t mind, because many of us are still among the quick for the effort(s). And a company that makes a profit continues to do its work. And the work of Big Pharma is keeping many people alive during the pandemic.

The critics also complained that, along with making money, the drug companies in the richer nations weren’t shipping enough vaccines to poorer nations. Even though for months the current president has pledged a billion doses in the coming year, just as soon as he can get them.

Late last week, the Biden administration announced that it will spend billions of dollars to help U.S. companies expand their manufacturing capabilities and increase the supply for poorer countries even more.

Of course, no good PR goes unpunished. People at the UN’s World Health Organization, along with others, have criticized booster shots in the United States. Why should Americans get boosters when there are other people worldwide who haven’t received the first shot?

“Many activists,” the paper said, “have demanded that the administration build up manufacturing capacity overseas, particularly in Africa, but the Biden plan is focused on building capacity among domestic vaccine-makers.” As if Joe Biden’s job was to consider Americans first.

As the administration might tell you, increasing the supply on these shores increases the global supply, too. As mentioned, there are a billion shots on the way to poorer countries, bought and paid for by the American taxpayer. That doesn’t include all the other pledges from other Western nations.

But there’s no pleasing some people. That old adage will never change.