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> Demand for the vaccine is likely to dry up in a year or two Aren't many scientific advisors saying that 1) it will take years to vaccinate the developing wor

> Demand for the vaccine is likely to dry up in a year or two Aren't many scientific advisors saying that 1) it will take years to vaccinate the developing world, and 2) risk groups may need annual booster shots in perpetuity to deal with mutations?

cptskippy 6y ago
Potentially but that's not definite. No company will risk profits to invest in an unknown short term demand. They're fine letting people languish so they can ensure maximum profit.
- tomp 6y ago
  You’re simplifying this thing beyond reasonable. Several counterpoints: (1) “profit” is just another way of saying “effort”. Would you try and work hard and risk your own money if you knew you weren’t getting paid for it? If you say “yes”, do you actually do that? (2) they’re probably used to it in this industry, but these pharma companies are really getting more hate than praise these days. “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” Except that they’re not actually damned if they don’t, they wouldn’t be in the news at all! (3) same argument as above, except r/pharma/West. People here developed an amazing technological post-industrial civilisation over centuries, and now we can use this technology to rapidly produce vaccines... yet we’re getting all the hate for not producing, manufacturing, distributing it fast enough. A bit unfair, don’t you think?
  - cptskippy 6y ago
    Profit is not equivalent to effort, that's naive. Profit occurs as much from inaction as it does action. Profit is exploitation of needs or wants, which isn't necessarily evil. Evil is having the power to stop suffering easily without harming yourself but choosing to seek profits instead (e.g. insulin prices). Just as we have regulations (e.g. patents) to protect business's profitability, we should have equal regulations to protect the public need.
- xxpor 6y ago
  And that's why we have the Defense Production Act. Don't give them a choice.
ch4s3 6y ago
Well yes, but you still don't want to overbuild capacity.

cptskippy 6y ago

Potentially but that's not definite. No company will risk profits to invest in an unknown short term demand. They're fine letting people languish so they can ensure maximum profit.

tomp 6y ago
You’re simplifying this thing beyond reasonable. Several counterpoints: (1) “profit” is just another way of saying “effort”. Would you try and work hard and risk your own money if you knew you weren’t getting paid for it? If you say “yes”, do you actually do that? (2) they’re probably used to it in this industry, but these pharma companies are really getting more hate than praise these days. “Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” Except that they’re not actually damned if they don’t, they wouldn’t be in the news at all! (3) same argument as above, except r/pharma/West. People here developed an amazing technological post-industrial civilisation over centuries, and now we can use this technology to rapidly produce vaccines... yet we’re getting all the hate for not producing, manufacturing, distributing it fast enough. A bit unfair, don’t you think?
- cptskippy 6y ago
  Profit is not equivalent to effort, that's naive. Profit occurs as much from inaction as it does action. Profit is exploitation of needs or wants, which isn't necessarily evil. Evil is having the power to stop suffering easily without harming yourself but choosing to seek profits instead (e.g. insulin prices). Just as we have regulations (e.g. patents) to protect business's profitability, we should have equal regulations to protect the public need.
xxpor 6y ago
And that's why we have the Defense Production Act. Don't give them a choice.

ch4s3 6y ago

Well yes, but you still don't want to overbuild capacity.