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Ans: When it comes to manufacturing billions of doses, Ward adds, companies need fast-track regulatory commitments from the Food and Drug Administration and a g

Ans: When it comes to manufacturing billions of doses, Ward adds, companies need fast-track regulatory commitments from the Food and Drug Administration and a guarantee from governments prepared to buy them. Basically the FDA is being risk adverse. And the government won't commit to funding. Bonus the FDA being risk adverse is why pediatric vaccines aren't available.

PaulHoule 5y ago
Even if the approval was faster the Omicron variant spread so fast that it’s hard to picture any vaccine being deployed quickly enough to get ahead of it. Omicron was detected around Thanksgiving, Moderna said they could start shipping in 100 days. I got it less than 45 days after it was detected! To deploy it faster you would need something out of Star Trek like mini mRNA factories in every hospital or something. For that matter the approval process does add value. It seems likely the new vaccine will work and have a similar adverse events profile as the last one but you never know. Many individuals are vaccine hesitant because they thought the development and approval of the last round of vaccines were rushed. (A friend asked me last January how quick I was going to get the vaccine and I told him ‘I am not going to jump the line, I’m going to get it as soon as it is easy to get’ and got my first shot in April. I thought three months was enough time that common and severe problems would show up.)