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> If COVID taught us anything, the government is going to let these drugs expire useless, incinerate them, refuse to replenish them, and import loads of fakes w
by PragmaticPulp 4y ago
> If COVID taught us anything, the government is going to let these drugs expire useless, incinerate them, refuse to replenish them, and import loads of fakes when an actual crisis hits.
What are you referring to? The US vaccine development, production, and distribution went quite well, all things considered. I remember the loudest complaint being that we weren’t giving away enough of our supply to other countries.
- cwkoss 4y agoTens of thousands of people died at the beginning of the pandemic due to lack of medical and PPE supplies. Nurses were wrapping themselves in garbage bags and searching out construction masks.
- dereg 4y agoYes, this is what I was talking about. It was an avoidable tragedy.
- airstrike 4y agoThat is literally the opposite of what is happening in TFA. If anything, you are arguing we're overpreparing.
- dereg 4y agoI did not miss that in my comment.
- ac2u 4y agoYeah, lots of reactionary blasting of your comment from people who didn't realise your point was that in future, if the stocks aren't used, some smartass politician is going to be "see!?! we didn't need it! why should we replace the expired stuff?" and leave the stocks at a state where the usefulness for an emergency is nil. Unfortunately, there's no incentive when spending taxpayer money for the person who "buys" insurance for tail risk events.
- cwkoss 4y agoI think the question is whether this surge of investment will lead to future complacency or whether the stockpile will be managed and maintained at this level into the future. The US trashed a bunch of masks without replacing them a few years before the pandemic - presumably because someone decided we were spending 'too much' on it. I hope this is just paranoid anxiety, but never underestimate the power of the federal government's ability to disappoint via reckless reactionism.
- chiefalchemist 4y agoNot back-filling all in all was probably a reasonable decision at the time. On the other hand, a lack of on-shore manufacturing capacity to address any on-demand needs is less forgivable. How could we not have a scenario that would have exposed that?
- chiph 4y agoThat was the alarming part I saw at the beginning of the pandemic. I had no idea that medical mask/PPE manufacturing had been moved offshore to the extent that it had. It would seem to me to be a capability that any country should have as part of their national biodefense strategy.
- chiefalchemist 4y agoWhat manufacturing hasn't been moved offshore? The majority of it to a country we're told is an enemy? Could the pro-globalization global elites be any less accountable?
- airstrike 4y agoYou were doing fine until "global elites". There's no organized cabal driving this outcome, just greedy humans solving for local optima that are globally suboptimal
- 4y ago
- nemacol 4y agoNot sure if they meant Monkeypox? There was a story in Aug about a substantial stock (20 million doses) of monkeypox vaccine that expired. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/01/nyregion/monkeypox-vaccine-jynneos-us.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/01/nyregion/monkeypox-vaccin...