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'America First' in Vaccinations
Townhall.com ^ | April 14, 2021 | Betsy McCaughy

Posted on 04/14/2021 4:32:55 AM PDT by Kaslin

In the race to save lives, the United States and England are winning. A stunning 47% of U.K. residents and 36% of U.S. residents have received at least one dose. Compare that with the European Union, where only 15% have gotten at least one jab. The U.S. and the U.K. are way ahead thanks to the brash nationalism of U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson and former President Donald Trump.

The U.S. is now vaccinating as many as 4 million people a day, and President Joe Biden has announced vaccines are plentiful enough that all adults will be eligible by May 1. A remarkable achievement. Biden gets some credit for distributing the shots, but Trump is responsible for producing vaccines in record time and guaranteeing that America had first dibs on the supply. The current president claims he inherited a mess. In fact, he inherited a miracle -- Trump's Operation Warp Speed.

In the spring of 2020, Trump put America at the front of the line for whatever vaccines would ultimately be produced. He had the foresight to contract with not one or two but six different vaccine companies for a total of 800 million doses. Not all six companies' vaccines would actually be approved and put into use. He bet on all six because failure was not an option.

Operation Warp Speed paid to manufacture the vaccines before clinical trials proved they were safe and worked. Companies couldn't take that risk. It was a bold strategy and it worked.

Trump insisted he'd have vaccines ready by the end of 2020, a goal naysayers like Anthony Fauci said was impossible. Prior to this, the fastest-ever vaccine development -- for mumps in the 1960s -- took four years.

Johnson, like Trump, showed the capitalist pluck to partner with the drug companies early and lock in the U.K.'s future vaccine supply. Meanwhile, the European Union -- a collection of 27 countries -- dithered over what to buy and at what price. By the time the EU contracted with vaccine developers, 105 days after Johnson signed his deals, it was slim pickings. That's largely why the European nations lack supply now.

Looking back, French President Emmanuel Macron admits: "We didn't shoot for the stars. That should be a lesson. We were wrong to lack ambition, to lack the madness ... to say: 'It's possible, let's do it.'"

Now, EU countries are so desperate for supply that Hungary's bought 5 million doses from the Chinese state-owned company Sinopharm for a whopping $36 a dose -- probably the highest price in the world -- though Sinopharm refuses to release clinical data showing the vaccine works. In fact, the shots may not work.

The U.K. has plenty of supply, and Johnson regards that as a vindication of Brexit and proof of the "innovative genius and commercial might of the private sector." Spoken like his buddy, Trump.

As for America's success, credit Trump. On March 2, Biden tried to rewrite history. He claimed: "When I came into office, the prior administration had contracted for not nearly enough vaccine to cover adults in America. We rectified that."

Sorry, even the left-leaning Kaiser Health News rates that "mostly false." Without the contracts giving the U.S. first dibs on supply, America would have been left high and dry like the Europeans. Worse, the vaccines might never have been produced. Trump's intervention made warp speed vaccine development less risky for the companies doing it.

That's key because this is not the last pandemic. Trump's Operation Warp Speed is a model to follow next time.

In 2019, before COVID-19 struck, Trump's Council of Economic Advisers warned that a flu pandemic could cost 500,000 American lives. The CEA said emerging technologies could make it possible to develop a vaccine against an invading disease in a matter of months, instead of years, provided government could reduce the financial risks.

The advice was prescient, and Trump took it. The rest is history.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: coronavirus; covid19; covidvaccine; opwarpspeed

1 posted on 04/14/2021 4:32:55 AM PDT by Kaslin
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To: Kaslin

So no border or immigration bills passed, but we get a “vaccine” instead.


2 posted on 04/14/2021 4:35:22 AM PDT by EEGator
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To: Kaslin

I am not in line.


3 posted on 04/14/2021 4:53:08 AM PDT by yldstrk (Bingo! We have a winner!)
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To: Kaslin

STAT: 6.8 Mil doses of J & J, 6 cases of blood clots.

U.S. calls for pause on use of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine

The clotting problem appears to be quite rare. As of Monday, more than 6.8 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine had been administered in this country. But officials acknowledged the investigation — and increased use of the vaccine, which was shipped in record numbers last week — could lead to the discovery of more cases.

https://www.statnews.com/2021/04/13/u-s-urges-pause-on-use-of-johnson-johnson-covid-19-vaccine-after-rare-blood-clotting-cases/


4 posted on 04/14/2021 5:13:06 AM PDT by GailA (Constitution vs evil Treasonous political Apparatchiks)
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To: yldstrk

Me neither.


5 posted on 04/14/2021 5:28:39 AM PDT by Rennes Templar (Trump took down ISIS; Biden took down Dr. Seuss)
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To: Kaslin
All fine and dandy - until a new variant comes through that nullifies the vaccine:

Israeli data shows South African variant able to ‘break through’ Pfizer vaccine

There will be a mandated booster shot every six months in perpetuity fighting the new variants.

God only knows what's in that vaccine...

6 posted on 04/14/2021 6:22:43 AM PDT by Bon of Babble (Rigged Elections have Consequences)
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To: Bon of Babble

https://www.timesofisrael.com/real-world-israeli-data-shows-south-african-variant-better-at-bypassing-vaccine/

The Times of Israel

‘Where we would have expected one case, we saw eight’
Israeli data shows South African variant able to ‘break through’ Pfizer vaccine


7 posted on 04/14/2021 6:44:42 AM PDT by GOPJ (We need a better class of 'elites' - the ones we have now are more like stupid white trash...)
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To: Rennes Templar

Nor me.


8 posted on 04/14/2021 7:06:12 AM PDT by bgill
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To: bgill

Exactly.
“ In the race to save lives, the United States and England are winning. ”
Winning what? Shooting everyone up for a virus that now has a 99.7 percent chance of survival? Should these untested experimental vaccines have long term debilitating effects, it could be the “end” of both countries.


9 posted on 04/14/2021 8:35:55 AM PDT by delta7
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To: delta7

From the legendary forecaster Armstrong.
“ From here on out, every time society sneezes, governments will exert this newfound power. In their goal of wiping out the next disease, they can lock down the people and revert the world into a communistic prison camp. There will be endless emergences of new variants resistant to the current vaccines, for viruses are a form of life that will adapt to carry out their objective — to reduce the population whenever possible. There will be new lockdowns while waiting to produce billions of doses of new vaccines that will once more get emergency approval without long-term testing. Where governments were once there to protect society from untested drugs, today they are in league with the pharmaceutical industry because it justifies their power.”
Prepare accordingly.


10 posted on 04/14/2021 8:43:55 AM PDT by delta7
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