Trump deserves more credit for vaccine success
By: Wall Street Journal Editorial Board
The Trump vaccine is a triumph of the Trump administration and free market capitalism. It was an awesome achievement few thought possible to have a vaccine ready for the public before the end of 2020. deleted
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Trump deserves more credit for vaccine success
American governments, federal and state, have made many mistakes in the COVID-19 pandemic. But the great success — the saving grace — was making a financial bet in collaboration with private American industry on the development of vaccines.
That effort is now letting the country see the possibility of a return to relatively normal life as early as the spring.
President Joe Biden announced last week that the U.S. should have enough vaccine supply for every American adult by the end of May. The Food and Drug Administration has finally approved Johnson & Johnson's vaccine, and last week J&J struck a deal with Merck to manufacture the single-shot J&J vaccine as well. With the Moderna and Pfizer shots already going into more than a million American arms each week, thousands of lives will be saved.
It's important to appreciate what an achievement this is. Critics scoffed when President Donald Trump set a target of having a vaccine approved by the end of 2020, and Kamala Harris suggested she might not take a shot recommended by the Trump administration.
The Biden-Harris administration has now changed to full-throated encouragement — though not before continuing to trash the Trump efforts. White House aides have suggested that they inherited little vaccine supply and no plan for distribution. Both claims are false.
The supply was ramping up fast, and while there were distribution glitches at first, the real problem has been the last mile of distribution controlled by states. Governors like New York's Andrew Cuomo tried to satisfy political constituencies that wanted early access to vaccines, adding complexity and bureaucracy that confused the public.
Biden made the same mistake last week, asking states to give priority to educators (read: teachers unions), school staffers and child-care workers. That is arbitrary and unfair. A 30-year-old teacher who may still work remotely until September is at far less risk than a 50-year-old FedEx driver who interacts with customers all day. The fairest, least political distribution standard is age.
The Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed also contracted most of the vaccine supply for production before approval by the FDA: 200 million doses each of Pfizer and Moderna, and 100 million of J&J. No one knew which technology would be approved first, if at all, so the government wisely bet on several. This was the best money the feds spent in the pandemic.
Biden ought to give the vaccine credit where it is due — to U.S. drug companies and Operation Warp Speed.
FROM AN EDITORIAL IN THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
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Credit goes to the scientists and researches in the labs. Trump did what anyone would do and made sure that the money was there to encourage the pharma companies to make it a priority.
Exactly. Scientists (and science) solve the problems. Politicians often do not and might possibly make things worse.
Too bad he didn't do what any sane individual with a lick of common sense would do, namely promote wearing masks and social distancing during a pandemic. So it's no surprise the US has the most cases and Covid related deaths in the world.
Fact check: The vaccine for COVID-19 has been nearly 20 years in the making
Nice to see the Biden vaccines are wiping out the trump virus.
Nearly 2 months in office and Biden has already done more to stop the spread of Covid than Trump ever did. Now that's real leadership.
Is it fair to say at this point that Trump is a virus? Look at how his BS has "infected" the minds of the ignorant and gullible (symptoms include, but not limited to, sycophantism). That spread almost as much as Covid.
Biden spent his first 2 months in office dealing with Covid that Trump failed to stop or even slow down. He had a plan to tackle Covid before he even took office. That's nice initiative. 2 months into Biden's watch and vaccines are being distributed and administered and cases are trending down. Trump spent the first 2 months of the outbreak doing nothing but tweeting and playing golf.
That's a joke, right?
The trump admin had NO vaccination plan, none at all. If he had been reelected, I doubt anyone would have had the vaccine, except for the super rich trump supporters.
Yes, it's sad to a new NTANON approved imaginary narrative spread over the site. Next thing you know Joe Biden will be credited by them for curing polio. The obsessive Trump haters simply ignore reality in favor of a purely emotional response where they just make things up to fits their twisted belief system. It's amazing how crazy the things they say are.
Do you agree with MAGA’s claim that Biden has done virtually nothing to stop the spread of COVD-19?
Han't been in office for two months - 10 + 28 + 14 = 52. Two months equal 60/61.
New math?
Now I know why you use RLimpballs as your av.
Like Trump did?
Hyperbole much?