NYT on Vaccines: How Trump Got It Right, and Europe Fell Far Behindhttps://townhall.com/tipsheet/guybenson/2021/03/22/nyt-on-vaccines-trump-got-it-right-and-europe-got-it-wrong-n2586604In a deep dive article published over the weekend, the New York Times chronicles some important lessons from the ongoing Coronavirus vaccine distribution saga. The Washington Examiner's Byron York summarizes the findings with three take-aways: First, "Trump's leadership on vaccine was vastly better than anyone in Europe." Second, "when it came to a vaccine, Britain was smart to leave the EU." Third, elite opinion was "dreadfully wrong" on both counts. The piece begins with a vignette of President Trump fielding calls from European leaders desperate for advice about how they might belatedly replicate some of America's success in this critical area. They still haven't caught up:
Since [last year], the rollout gap between Europe and the United States has only widened, and some of the countries hardest hit early in the pandemic are facing a deadly third wave of infections. France, large parts of Italy, and other regions are back in lockdown. Roughly 20,000 Europeans die of Covid-19 each week. The Continent was dealt a further setback when a scare over blood clots and brain bleeds led several countries this week to temporarily halt the distribution of the AstraZeneca vaccine. Most of them resumed using it on Friday, after Europe’s top drug regulator vouched for its safety, but public confidence in the shot has been badly shaken... There is no single culprit. Rather, a cascade of small decisions have led to increasingly long delays. The bloc was comparatively slow to negotiate contracts with drugmakers. Its regulators were cautious and deliberative in approving some vaccines. Europe also bet on vaccines that did not pan out or, significantly, had supply disruptions. And national governments snarled local efforts in red tape.
But the biggest explanation, the one that has haunted the bloc for months, is as much philosophical as it was operational. European governments are often seen in the United States as free-spending, liberal bastions, but this time it was Washington that threw billions at drugmakers and cosseted their business...Brussels, by comparison, took a conservative, budget-conscious approach that left the open market largely untouched. And it has paid for it. In short, the answer today is the same as it was in December, said Dr. Slaoui. The bloc shopped for vaccines like a customer. The United States basically went into business with the drugmakers, spending much more heavily to accelerate vaccine development, testing and production...“They assumed that simply contracting to acquire doses would be enough,†recalled Dr. Slaoui, whom President Donald J. Trump hired to speed the vaccine development. “In fact what was very important was to be a full, active partner in the development and the manufacturing of the vaccine. And to do so very early.†...
Contrary to Libs' and Progs' (false) claim that Trump didn't use the Defense Production Act, he went beyond it by making government a partner, variously, in developing, testing, and producing vaccines, and producing materials necessary to a vaccination program. Dems are too antagonistic toward pharmaceuticals and business generally to conceive of what Trump did in Operation Warp Speed.
One of EuroLand's mistakes was extended price haggling. They saved ~$5 per dose. Multuply that out for 2 doses each for some 500 million people and they saved ~$5 billion. $5 billion is not peanuts ... until one compares it to the cost of partial or near total shutdown of EU countries' economies. The EU was penny wise and Euro foolish.
