4 ms·

This administration literally fast-tracked the original covid vaccines for approval. Say what you will about the Covid vaccine or Kennedy’s specific motivation

by timr 3mo ago

This administration literally fast-tracked the original covid vaccines for approval. Say what you will about the Covid vaccine or Kennedy’s specific motivations (which I disagree with), but choosing to cut government funding for development of wildly profitable pharmaceutical products is a reasonable choice.

api 3mo ago
The biggest single success from Trump’s first term is the thing his base hates to the point that they booed him over it.
snootypoot 3mo ago
[flagged]
- deleted 3mo ago
  [deleted]
adjejmxbdjdn 3mo ago
Nope. Not this administration at all. Trump 1 was a very different administration. And Trump himself has publicly backed off what was probably his one major achievement after receiving pushback from his supporters.
- timr 3mo ago
  You’re splitting hairs.
  - TylerE 3mo ago
    No, he really isn’t. Trump one had a sane (terrible, but sane) cabinet that largely controlled his wilder impulses. This time he went for loyalty above all else.
    - timr 3mo ago
      > Trump one had a sane cabinet that largely controlled his wilder impulses. This is absurdly revisionist. The first administration’s cabinet/staff was a reality show and a merry go round of people like Anthony Scaramucci and Ryan Zinke. If anything “controlled” it, it was just the chaos of incompetence. As far as loyalty goes, I suppose it’s worth reminding you that Kennedy was a Democrat, who ran in the Democratic presidential primary, and routinely criticized Trump.
      - ceejayoz 3mo ago
        Where’s the Kelly and Mattis in the second term? Kennedy was a Democrat as a spoiler.
      - petilon 3mo ago
        Relatively speaking Trump 1.0 had a sane cabinet. Yes, there were some crazies, sure, but relative to the people he has around him now, they seem sane.
        DANmode 3mo ago
        Getting warmer.
      - jancsika 3mo ago
        OP is saying Trump has demanded loyalty as a condition of serving in his administration. As HHS Secretary, RFK caved on Roundup, something he famously won a case against as a lawyer[1]. That even lost RFK support from some of his MAHA fans. 1: https://apnews.com/article/maha-glyphosate-rfk-kennedy-trump-pesticides-3d23d4771dba743a976543ca6cfa69d9 https://apnews.com/article/maha-glyphosate-rfk-kennedy-trump...
      - Sabinus 3mo ago
        [dead]
petilon 3mo ago
Not many people know that Trump had a hand in starting the pandemic. Here's what we know: In 2014, Obama administration halted the so called "gain of function" research because of risk of laboratory accidents. In 2017, the Trump administration restarted this dangerous research. See links below. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/18/us/white-house-to-cut-funding-for-risky-biological-study.html https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/18/us/white-house-to-cut-fun... Excerpt: [Obama administration] White House announced Friday that it would temporarily halt all new funding for experiments that seek to study certain infectious agents by making them more dangerous. The White House said the moratorium decision had been made “following recent biosafety incidents at federal research facilities.” https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/19/health/lethal-viruses-nih.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/19/health/lethal-viruses-nih... Excerpt: [Trump administration] on Tuesday ended a moratorium imposed three years ago on funding research that alters germs to make them more lethal. Critics say these researchers risk creating a monster germ that could escape the lab and seed a pandemic. So, Trump restarted the dangerous research that Obama had shut down. You may be thinking, what does that have to do with Covid? Covid started in Wuhan, China, right? It turns out that the Trump administration, through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), provided funding to the EcoHealth Alliance, an American non-profit organization focused on studying emerging diseases. The EcoHealth Alliance, in turn, provided funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China for researching bat coronaviruses. The rest is history. And then Trump also disbanded the pandemic preparedness team in 2018 just in time for the pandemic. See link below. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/nsc-pandemic-office-trump-closed/2020/03/13/a70de09c-6491-11ea-acca-80c22bbee96f_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/nsc-pandemic-office-t...
- stinkbeetle 3mo ago
  No that was a conspiracy theory fueled by Russian disinformation, the scientists and experts testified that there was no gain of function work being done and debunked it.
  - petilon 3mo ago
    Citation needed. If you are going to say NYT article is wrong we need more than just your words.
lokar 3mo ago
My understanding is that vaccine research and production is almost never profitable and depends on government support. Either grants, guaranteed purchases, or both.
- timr 3mo ago
  Your understanding is incorrect. All research is unprofitable, by definition. Vaccines are wildly profitable.
  - baronvonsp 3mo ago
    Yeah that's called survivorship bias. The ones that make it to market can be wildly profitable to manufacture. Doing all the work to sift through what does and doesn't work to discover new vaccines wouldn't happen without public funding.
    - timr 3mo ago
      No, that’s called pharmaceutical development. That’s the business. We don’t generally fund Merck’s R&D with federal money. You’ll note the following critical detail from the article: > That will impact 22 projects being led by major pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer and Moderna, for vaccines against bird flu and other viruses, HHS said. We’ve gone so far round the bend with partisanship that straight-up corporate welfare has become a left-wing cause.
      - quinnjh 3mo ago
        Certainly not _all_ of it, but a few billion at least. for the curious: https://www.usaspending.gov/search?hash=5ec35bf87ec1fd63d28d35bb7628e2b5 https://www.usaspending.gov/search?hash=5ec35bf87ec1fd63d28d...
  - lokar 3mo ago
    Yeah, there would be none without government support. Remember when everyone was contributing spare dimes to fund a vaccine?
altmanaltman 3mo ago
It's literally not the same administration. Also yeah he wants private companies to stop "wild" profits while he grifts the nation with crypto, hosting UFC on white house? You have to be stupid or willfully ignorant to think the current administration gives a single f about unchecked profits or the people's general wellbeing.
deleted 3mo ago
[deleted]

by timr 3mo ago

api 3mo ago

The biggest single success from Trump’s first term is the thing his base hates to the point that they booed him over it.

snootypoot 3mo ago

[flagged]

deleted 3mo ago
[deleted]

adjejmxbdjdn 3mo ago

Nope. Not this administration at all. Trump 1 was a very different administration. And Trump himself has publicly backed off what was probably his one major achievement after receiving pushback from his supporters.

timr 3mo ago
You’re splitting hairs.
- TylerE 3mo ago
  No, he really isn’t. Trump one had a sane (terrible, but sane) cabinet that largely controlled his wilder impulses. This time he went for loyalty above all else.
  - timr 3mo ago
    > Trump one had a sane cabinet that largely controlled his wilder impulses. This is absurdly revisionist. The first administration’s cabinet/staff was a reality show and a merry go round of people like Anthony Scaramucci and Ryan Zinke. If anything “controlled” it, it was just the chaos of incompetence. As far as loyalty goes, I suppose it’s worth reminding you that Kennedy was a Democrat, who ran in the Democratic presidential primary, and routinely criticized Trump.
    - ceejayoz 3mo ago
      Where’s the Kelly and Mattis in the second term? Kennedy was a Democrat as a spoiler.
    - petilon 3mo ago
      Relatively speaking Trump 1.0 had a sane cabinet. Yes, there were some crazies, sure, but relative to the people he has around him now, they seem sane.
      - DANmode 3mo ago
        Getting warmer.
    - jancsika 3mo ago
      OP is saying Trump has demanded loyalty as a condition of serving in his administration. As HHS Secretary, RFK caved on Roundup, something he famously won a case against as a lawyer[1]. That even lost RFK support from some of his MAHA fans. 1: https://apnews.com/article/maha-glyphosate-rfk-kennedy-trump-pesticides-3d23d4771dba743a976543ca6cfa69d9 https://apnews.com/article/maha-glyphosate-rfk-kennedy-trump...
    - Sabinus 3mo ago
      [dead]

petilon 3mo ago

Not many people know that Trump had a hand in starting the pandemic. Here's what we know: In 2014, Obama administration halted the so called "gain of function" research because of risk of laboratory accidents. In 2017, the Trump administration restarted this dangerous research. See links below. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/18/us/white-house-to-cut-funding-for-risky-biological-study.html https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/18/us/white-house-to-cut-fun... Excerpt: [Obama administration] White House announced Friday that it would temporarily halt all new funding for experiments that seek to study certain infectious agents by making them more dangerous. The White House said the moratorium decision had been made “following recent biosafety incidents at federal research facilities.” https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/19/health/lethal-viruses-nih.html https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/19/health/lethal-viruses-nih... Excerpt: [Trump administration] on Tuesday ended a moratorium imposed three years ago on funding research that alters germs to make them more lethal. Critics say these researchers risk creating a monster germ that could escape the lab and seed a pandemic. So, Trump restarted the dangerous research that Obama had shut down. You may be thinking, what does that have to do with Covid? Covid started in Wuhan, China, right? It turns out that the Trump administration, through the National Institutes of Health (NIH), provided funding to the EcoHealth Alliance, an American non-profit organization focused on studying emerging diseases. The EcoHealth Alliance, in turn, provided funding to the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China for researching bat coronaviruses. The rest is history. And then Trump also disbanded the pandemic preparedness team in 2018 just in time for the pandemic. See link below. https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/nsc-pandemic-office-trump-closed/2020/03/13/a70de09c-6491-11ea-acca-80c22bbee96f_story.html https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/nsc-pandemic-office-t...

stinkbeetle 3mo ago
No that was a conspiracy theory fueled by Russian disinformation, the scientists and experts testified that there was no gain of function work being done and debunked it.
- petilon 3mo ago
  Citation needed. If you are going to say NYT article is wrong we need more than just your words.

lokar 3mo ago

My understanding is that vaccine research and production is almost never profitable and depends on government support. Either grants, guaranteed purchases, or both.

timr 3mo ago
Your understanding is incorrect. All research is unprofitable, by definition. Vaccines are wildly profitable.
- baronvonsp 3mo ago
  Yeah that's called survivorship bias. The ones that make it to market can be wildly profitable to manufacture. Doing all the work to sift through what does and doesn't work to discover new vaccines wouldn't happen without public funding.
  - timr 3mo ago
    No, that’s called pharmaceutical development. That’s the business. We don’t generally fund Merck’s R&D with federal money. You’ll note the following critical detail from the article: > That will impact 22 projects being led by major pharmaceutical companies, including Pfizer and Moderna, for vaccines against bird flu and other viruses, HHS said. We’ve gone so far round the bend with partisanship that straight-up corporate welfare has become a left-wing cause.
    - quinnjh 3mo ago
      Certainly not _all_ of it, but a few billion at least. for the curious: https://www.usaspending.gov/search?hash=5ec35bf87ec1fd63d28d35bb7628e2b5 https://www.usaspending.gov/search?hash=5ec35bf87ec1fd63d28d...
- lokar 3mo ago
  Yeah, there would be none without government support. Remember when everyone was contributing spare dimes to fund a vaccine?

altmanaltman 3mo ago

It's literally not the same administration. Also yeah he wants private companies to stop "wild" profits while he grifts the nation with crypto, hosting UFC on white house? You have to be stupid or willfully ignorant to think the current administration gives a single f about unchecked profits or the people's general wellbeing.

deleted 3mo ago

[deleted]