All the employees at the Washington Post are willing to forgo their own doses of vaccine, right, so they can be sent to poor nations? And since Biden voters tend to believe this garbage, they’ll be willing to forgo their own doses, right?
The zero-sum vaccine game: How a dose in the U.S. takes a dose away from a poorer country
The swift development of effective coronavirus vaccines has been one of the few bright points of the pandemic. Since Britain administered the first fully tested vaccine in December, well over 130 million doses have been delivered around the world — 44 million in the United States alone.
But most countries have yet to see the benefits of this accomplishment. Months into the global vaccine rollout, the pace remains staggeringly unequal, with wealthy countries leaving poorer ones in the dust. And they aren’t competing in a vacuum: The success of the former has come very much at the expense of the latter.
“It remains to a large degree a zero-sum game, which means that every dose that goes to the U.S. or the U.K. or an E.U. country is a dose that’s off the shelves,” said Andrea Taylor, a researcher at Duke University’s Global Health Innovation Center who tracks vaccines. “And the shelves aren’t going to be restocked for a while.”
The zero-sum nature of vaccine supply is rooted in a wide variety of factors, but boils down to the simple fact that manufacturers cannot yet meet demand. The potential consequences are wide-ranging. Unmitigated spread in any country, rich or poor, can lead to variants that may be more virulent or resistant to vaccines.
OK, what Democrat is willing to give up their dose? Who’s willing to send dose for Americans to poor nations? Anyone? Sure, some Modern Socialist SJWs might be willing to send Other People’s doses, but, not their own.
Some experts have urged wealthy nations to address the situation head-on, through a policy likely to find little domestic support: the donation of doses to other countries that need them, before fully vaccinating at home.
I wonder if those anonymous experts are willing to give up the doses for themselves, their family, and their close friends and coworkers. That would be an important question to ask, eh?
So far, buy-in to this way of thinking remains limited. Norway has offered a plan to donate excess vaccine doses. Mexico, despite recording the third-worst death toll globally, has limited its purchases of the Pfizer vaccine after a U.N. request. Most other nations have not detailed such plans.
The Biden administration has pledged to pursue the idea of donating vials, but has not offered a timeline or other specifics.
The United States would “develop a framework for providing surplus U.S. government vaccine doses to countries in need, once there is sufficient supply in the United States,” a State Department spokesperson said. The government has not said how it would define surplus in light of vaccine hesitancy.
Joe already got his doses, along with his family and people, so, he wouldn’t be worried. Of course, he can’t be so dumb as to put other nations ahead of the U.S., right? He’d get eviscerated. Even the compliant Dem voting media would take issue, wouldn’t they?
The spokesperson said the United States might consider donating excess doses through Covax Facility, a program backed by the World Health Organization that is designed to ensure global access to vaccines. The Biden administration has pledged to support the program, in which the Trump administration did not participate.
What excess doses? California is temporarily closing sites because of vaccine shortages (mostly because the doses have been given).
It may well be shifting under our feet. WHO officials suggested this week that the prevalence of virus variants may necessitate annual vaccinations or booster shots. “That would completely change the picture. It blows everything out of the water,” said Taylor. “And I think it’s where we’re heading.”
Well, that’s a new one. Being the WHO, and all their issues with protecting China, you have to wonder what the agenda is.
Under President Trump, and his America First policies, of course we would prioritize Americans receiving the vaccines first; that’s what an American President should do for the American people!
Under President Biden? Well, who knows, but not one damned dose of the vaccine produced in our country should leave our country before every last American has had the opportunity to receive it.