Trump HHS Secretary Won’t Promise a Coronavirus Vaccine Will Be Affordable for All
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Trump HHS Secretary Won’t Promise a Coronavirus Vaccine Will Be Affordable for All
On Wednesday Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar repeated President Donald Trump’s claim that a vaccine for the deadly, quick-spreading virus would be ready soon. Trump had actually appeared to suggest “very soon,” which is false.
But soon or very soon, it won’t be either for everyone.
Experts agree a coronavirus vaccine won’t be ready for the general population more than a year. And while many would assume that would mean it would be available for everyone, HHS Secretary Azar has something different in mind.
What Sec. Azar has in mind should come as no surprise, given that Azar once was president of a top major pharmaceutical company, a division of Eli Lilly and Company.
Here’s U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-IL) questioning Secretary Azar Wednesday, only to find out the Trump administration will not ensure a coronavirus vaccine is affordable to all.
SCHAKOWSKY: “You’re saying that it will, for sure, be affordable for anyone who needs it.”
AZAR: “I’m saying we would want to ensure that we work to make it affordable, but we can’t control that price, because we need the private sector to invest…Price controls won’t get us there.”
In other words, the companies that can create vaccines fast enough get to set the prices. And Azar is saying the federal government will not make sure everyone can afford it.
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How the hell do we call ourselves a civilized society when the President of the United States says every American won't be able to afford the vaccine for the current pandemic?
Absolutely dumbfounding. He says so much dumb shit, it's hard to keep up.
It should have no cost to avoid a potential pandemic.
POS/POTUS took an oath to defend and protect the health and general welfare of all US citizens, although administration foot dragging in response to a global pandemic, and making sure the poor can't afford the vaccine and die, sounds like a solid republican re-election strategy for 2020. if that happens, some people may need to be more concerned about just virus germs flying thru the air towards them in this country. witness the riots over returning corona virus patients in other countries this week, as well as our past history with small pox, cholera, influenza, scarlet fever, and several other air and water borne virus victims in the last 300+ years
as the ice caps melt due to global warming, viral microbes frozen in the ice for centuries that humans have no resistance to now, will continue to disperse and mutate into the food chain. global pandemics will become more and more common. the big 3 events of possible human extinction in order of the size of threat are...
The president's oath doesn't say anything about that.
Health officials have repeatedly said that it is not yet a pandemic. So, what is it you think the president should be doing that he isn't?
Does it really matter what he does? The TDS sufferers will complain regardless. He Implemented travel restrictions and they cried about that. There is nothing that people won't stoop to complain about Trump.
Setting up the task force to manage this back in January doesn't seem like foot dragging to me.
“... given that Azar once was president of a top major pharmaceutical company...”
Oh, so there are experts behind Trump. You just don’t like the crystal ball image of an undeveloped work. The left is a kid screaming from the back seat, “Are we there yet?”
Worst president and administration in the history of this country.
When the pharma companies don't have enough employees because they're all at home sick in bed...they may rethink their prices.
What is he supposed to say? Does he have the authority to determine what a specific medicine will cost? I don't think so. So why be outraged that he doesn't make a promise he has no control over?
Controlling a pandemic within the US should not be a profit making enterprise.
Do you want HHS to lie to you to make you feel good? Or do you want the administration to act illegally?
Which one are you advocating for?
neither
What authority does the President have to set product prices?
A false choice, I want the Administration to provide a vaccine for all Americans and if they have to remove their tax gift to the 1% so be it.
Who is going to do the work for free? You?
They've had no problems with that for about 3-1/2 years now.
Y'all are so funny
I'll ask again, what power does the President have to compel any of this?
Not that its' relevant, but Congress is the one that would have to "remove the gift tax."
This thread demonstrates some real lack of knowledge from the complainers about the actual Powers of the Presidency and the seperation of powers.
By all means, point to what statute gives the President unilateral power to force companies to produce a vaccine for free?
When I was a kid I remember having to stand in line and get free immunizations in public school.
So I would say there is a precedent.
I agree with you you said. To start, we have to understand what legal powers the President and Congress actually have. We should be talking about realistic solutions that are legal, rather than simply demanding crimes be committed or the President give false assurances so people feel better.
This is obviously an exercise in blame the President, reality be damned. Once we get past the partisan blame game, actual, legal solutions can be discussed.
Most immunization programs are run by the states, but I'd be curious what law grants the President the authority to confiscate vaccinations from companies and distribute them for free? I don't know of any precedent allowing the President to do that it's certainly not how any vaccination program I'm aware of works.
The government should be working themselves or in concert for these kind of things.
Not everything needs to be or should be privatized.
This allows the feds to purchase immunizations, not seize them and give them away. Those are two different things and involve two seperate branches of government.
It's up to Congress to allocate funds for whatever extraordinary costs a coronavirus may entail. The President can't order companies to give the vaccines to the US government. Nor can the President spend more than Congress allocates.
Congress controls the purse strings, and it's up to them to provide the money for a vaccination giveaway.
Apparently he can move money around which is what he wants to do.
The feds can set prices for what they will pay for in bulk. Imo it would be no different than them setting prices for Medicare.
I am astonished by your question.
Last I knew police departments and fire departments are not for profit.
And believe me, they dont work for free.
Gosh, the Trump Administration is not only clueless, but it is also clueless. The Polio Vaccine was not affordable for all either, but the American people received the vaccine anyway
because it was 'the moral' thing to do.
Let's not overstate it. It's not like it's free. Salk refused to patent his vaccine, but it wasn't even the only vaccine out there (nor even the first). A few years after his vaccine was released, it was generally replaced by others.
Also, the circumstances are different. Salk - like others - spent years developing the vaccine on his own and then tested it on himself and his kids. With coronavirus, people are wanting a vaccine right this damned minute.
Whoever develops it, if they want to not patent it, God bless them. But I certainly don't expect it.
Coronavirus 101: What You Need to Know
Dr Brahm Segal, Chief of Infectious Diseases at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, to share his knowledge of the virus.
Dr. Segal: "COVID-19 is a lot more aggressive than the Flu"
I trust this doctor from Roswell over anything this POS administration has uttered regarding this virus.
Is that contrary to something someone in the administration said?
No worries; rump will get China to pay for the vaccine /s/.
Or Mexico.
No he will come up with a ban on Mexican Corona beer stating it caused the plague.
Lol, that sounds about right!
No ! Hush now, don't give him any ideas. That is my favorite beer.
Mine too.
The way they responded (or didn't respond) to this thing as it developed, that doesn't seem like such an unreasonable idea.
Well put that on the list of president rump's retarded ideas, right beside Mexico paying for the wall.
No Worries! With "Pray the Gay Away" Pence in charge I am sure he will utilize divine intervention as a cure along with bloodletting. Only the rich can afford the vaccine if and when it is available. The only Prophets the GOP and their Matthew 23 Christians believe in is profit.
He also wants to pay for combating the virus by taking money from the poor...
The president has already asked Congress for money, and several members of both parties seem prepared to give even more than he asked for and the president said he would be glad to get it. Finally, everybody can agree on something.
I assume that money would go toward research, development, and dissemination of any vaccine.
Will it be free? I would expect that for some people, the answer is yes, especially the poor and elderly who already tend to have pretty complete coverage. The rest of us will probably have some kind of co-pay. If they are going to be making a lot of it (and I assume they are), it stands to reason that the per-unit cost will be relatively low. Government subsidy would obviously make it even cheaper.