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As the article pointed out, identifying MRNA as a viable option was one of Warp Speeds major accomplishments. There are tons of technologies that had to be exp

As the article pointed out, identifying MRNA as a viable option was one of Warp Speeds major accomplishments. There are tons of technologies that had to be explored. I’ve read this article in full several times (it’s dense). Warp Speed wasn’t like the Manhattan Project or the Apollo Project. It wasn’t hundreds of thousands of government employees working in one tech. It was hundreds of project managers with single tech portfolios, most of which were useless, trying to figure out which tech would solve the problem at hand. It was YComhinator investing applied to a major government project.

jounker 5y ago
The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was pointedly not involved in Operation Warp Speed.
- vlovich123 5y ago
  Wikipedia disagrees with you but depends on your meaning of "not involved". I think you could be right about the impact Warp Speed had on the selection aspect of mRNA but it's hard to say. From one perspective, BioNtech mRNA effort started in January 2020 before Warp Speed was a thing. From another Pfizer and BioNTech announced a deal in April 2020 around the time that Warp Speed legislation (and since legislation is lagging self-organizing work that was ongoing, it's hard to say). From the capacity perspective, it doesn't seem right [1]. > But on July 22, Operation Warp Speed placed an advance-purchase order of $2 billion with Pfizer to manufacture 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine for use in the United States when the vaccine was shown to be safe, effective, licensed, and authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). On December 23, the Trump administration announced that they had ordered another 200 million doses from Pfizer. On November 9, the Pfizer–BioNTech partnership announced positive early results from its Phase III trial of the BNT162b2 vaccine candidate, and on December 11, the FDA provided emergency use authorization, initiating the distribution of the vaccine. > In September 2020, BioNTech received €375 million (US$445 million) from the government of Germany to accelerate the development and production capacity of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine So looks like they needed significant government help getting distribution and logistics. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Warp_Speed#Pfizer%E2%80%93BioNTech https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Warp_Speed#Pfizer%E2...
NicoJuicy 5y ago
I'm pretty sure that "major accomplishment" doesn't involve more than talking to the pharma companies and getting their feedback. Which is definitely not something unique and hard.
wolverine876 5y ago
> I’ve read this article in full several times Why do you rely on it? A serious question. Why trust this article and this author?
- pyuser583 5y ago
  I don’t necessarily “rely” on it. It’s simply a very dense and well cited article that is best understood by being read multiple times. The first time I read it, I hardly understood a word. So I read it again and again and it became clearer. Doesn’t mean the article is right or wrong. Just means you have to put some work into understanding and evaluating it.

jounker 5y ago

The Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine was pointedly not involved in Operation Warp Speed.

vlovich123 5y ago
Wikipedia disagrees with you but depends on your meaning of "not involved". I think you could be right about the impact Warp Speed had on the selection aspect of mRNA but it's hard to say. From one perspective, BioNtech mRNA effort started in January 2020 before Warp Speed was a thing. From another Pfizer and BioNTech announced a deal in April 2020 around the time that Warp Speed legislation (and since legislation is lagging self-organizing work that was ongoing, it's hard to say). From the capacity perspective, it doesn't seem right [1]. > But on July 22, Operation Warp Speed placed an advance-purchase order of $2 billion with Pfizer to manufacture 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine for use in the United States when the vaccine was shown to be safe, effective, licensed, and authorized by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). On December 23, the Trump administration announced that they had ordered another 200 million doses from Pfizer. On November 9, the Pfizer–BioNTech partnership announced positive early results from its Phase III trial of the BNT162b2 vaccine candidate, and on December 11, the FDA provided emergency use authorization, initiating the distribution of the vaccine. > In September 2020, BioNTech received €375 million (US$445 million) from the government of Germany to accelerate the development and production capacity of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine So looks like they needed significant government help getting distribution and logistics. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Warp_Speed#Pfizer%E2%80%93BioNTech https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Warp_Speed#Pfizer%E2...

NicoJuicy 5y ago

I'm pretty sure that "major accomplishment" doesn't involve more than talking to the pharma companies and getting their feedback. Which is definitely not something unique and hard.

wolverine876 5y ago

> I’ve read this article in full several times Why do you rely on it? A serious question. Why trust this article and this author?

pyuser583 5y ago
I don’t necessarily “rely” on it. It’s simply a very dense and well cited article that is best understood by being read multiple times. The first time I read it, I hardly understood a word. So I read it again and again and it became clearer. Doesn’t mean the article is right or wrong. Just means you have to put some work into understanding and evaluating it.