This is not, despite what Saint Sarah says, an example of crony capitalism. If, at the time, there had been two companies offering the same vaccine, and Perry had chosen the one represented by a close acquaintence, the accusation might be accurate.
But that wasn't the case. Merck was the only provider. The mere fact of doing business with someone you know is not always "crony capitalism". The term implies showing favoritism to one company over another.
Yes. It’s a manufactured “outrage.”
Not necessarily. The term is basically synonymous with corporatism which is the progressive notion that society is best served by a government-business partnership to avoid the "inefficiencies" of competition. Perfected, there aren't two companies for a government agent to discriminate between; all that inefficiency has been eradicated by the progressive application of scientific principles on behalf of a unified, grateful, and compliant population.
That's the progressive vision and "crony capitalism" goes far deeper and is far more visionary than mere favoritism. If this sounds a lot like Fascism, that should not surprise, because it was invented here, then exported to Italy. But it is as American as apple pie and is ingrained throughout the Democrat Party. The Republican Party has not escaped the infection either, though it shows signs of throwing it off of late.