The So-Called Moderna Vaccine Is a Publicly Funded Miracle

[douglas9]

The so-called “Moderna” vaccine is a miracle of science. It is nearly 100 percent effective at preventing serious illness and death. By vaccinating the world, we can end the COVID-19 pandemic and save millions of lives.

The only problem? We don’t have nearly enough doses. But there’s a solution: If the Biden administration allowed generic manufacturers, not just Moderna, to manufacture the vaccine at scale, the United States would no longer suffer from a vaccine shortage.

This step is entirely appropriate, because the “Moderna” vaccine wasn’t developed by Moderna. The research and development of the vaccine were paid for by our U.S. taxpayer dollars, to the tune of $2.5 billion. In fact, Dolly Parton put more money into the vaccine than the company it is named after when she donated $1 million to the effort.

This isn’t Modern’s vaccine. It is the people’s vaccine, and it’s time for the law to reflect that.


https://www.counterpunch.org/2021/02/04/the-so-called-moderna-vaccine-is-a-publicly-funded-miracle/

[FBaggins]

1. No it isn't

The vaccine was developed well before public funding. All that cash was spent accelerating the testing and incentivizing the company to begin high volume manufacturing before approval.

If you want more doses than they can produce... the solution is simple. Pay them to do it. Incentivize them to subcontract additional production to generic manufacturers.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

7. Yes, what I heard. tRump's Op Warp Speed was only about rollout. . . nt

[Wounded Bear]

2. Ramping up alternate manufacturers for a product like the vaccine is not that easy...

would probably take a couple of months to actually get it rolling.

[Jersey Devil]

3. Fauci explained yesterday that this is not an easy thing to do

It would take months to get another company up to speed and then it would have to be tested and approved by the FDA. By that time Moderna itself would be producing much more.

[roamer65]

4. The SARS-CoV-2 Moderna vaccine was an offshoot from a existing MERS vaccine project.

Moderna had a head start because the mRNA technology from the MERS project was easily adapted to a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine.

https://cen.acs.org/pharmaceuticals/vaccines/tiny-tweak-behind-COVID-19/98/i38

[NNadir]

5. Asking Counterpuch to understand science is like asking...

...Trump to understand empathy.

The ionizable lipid is the key to the Moderna vaccine. It's proprietary.

[roamer65]

6. It's sheer brilliance.

It’s the reason it can be stored at higher temps than the Pfizer vaccine.

[NNadir]

8. That is true for now. I suspect we are at the dawn of membrane...

...transporters for this particular application.

We are at the stage where patent lawyers are called in for development.

There is, of course, a long history of liposomal formulations on which this technology is built.

[roamer65]

9. This technology is definitely going to get aimed at cancer.

It opens up a wide field for cancer immunotherapy.

[NNadir]

10. There was a nice news item in Nature a few weeks back...

...on the advanced applications. I meant to read it in full, and perhaps post a note in the science forum but I never got around to doing it as I was distracted by other things.

[Progressive dog]

11. Moderna is not the problem

They will make every dose that they can sell, as fast as they can. There are seven and one half billion people who are not Americans who also need the vaccines