> Government certainly can change this reality (perhaps via the defense production act) by agreeing to buy masks off the line for a time after the immediate dem

> Government certainly can change this reality (perhaps via the defense production act) by agreeing to buy masks off the line for a time after the immediate demand has been met. Or whatever. Of course, but it seems the vaccines had priority, to the point of ignoring masks: https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/08/08/feds-spending-more-than-9-billion-covid-19-vaccine-candidates/5575206002/ https://eu.usatoday.com/story/news/health/2020/08/08/feds-sp... August 8, 2020: "Federal spending on COVID-19 vaccine candidates tops $9 billion, spread among 7 companies" To compare, the OP article writes: "Why is the world’s richest country still struggling to meet the demand for an item that once cost around $1 apiece?" The sad aspect is, if it turns out that even vaccinated people can spread the virus (as in: "they can still become infected and only get less sick"), and that is estimated as very probable by the experts at the moment, the existence of other vaccinated people will not protect the high risk groups -- the so-called "herd" will never protect them, only the vaccine, and only if it works for them. Which they won't know in advance: The experts also don't expect too high protection of the vaccine, as it is known that vulnerable are only some percentages protected by the similar vaccines (sometimes even less than 50%). So the masks can turn out to remain more important than we hope at the moment: then, the estimated protection if both the infected and the vulnerable wear a good mask could be higher in many circumstances than a vaccine. That was the sound basis for this claim: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/16/cdc-director-says-face-masks-may-provide-more-protection-than-coronavirus-vaccine-.html https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/16/cdc-director-says-face-masks... In Redfield's own words: “If I don’t get an immune response, the vaccine is not going to protect me,” he said. “This face mask will.”