There are some interesting remarks about precisely that in Premonition, Michael Lewis's latest book, where some far thinking people started funding rapid vaccine development VERY early on, in the early months of 2020, long before most people became conscious of how serious things would become.
The Bush administration and CDC
in 2005 established a goal for which we should all currently be grateful. That goal was set forth in the 2005
National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza. Their goal was to (page 5):
"Establish domestic production capacity and stockpiles of countermeasures to ensure:
- Sufficient vaccine to vaccinate front-line personnel and at-risk populations, including military personnel;
- Sufficient vaccine to vaccinate the entire U.S. population within six months of the emergence of a virus with pandemic potential; and
- Antiviral treatment for those who contract a pandemic strain of influenza."The following year, BARDA was established thru bipartisan legislation to work toward those and other goals. BARDA and NIAID continued with those efforts year after year; funding research outside government; performing research inside government; and developing capabilities and capacities for what became a critical need in 2020. The
BARDA Strategic Plan for 2011-2016 (page 13 - Goal 3) discusses those ongoing efforts toward the 2005
six month goal for vaccine development and capacity.
"GOAL 3
Agile, robust and sustainable U.S. manufacturing infrastructure capable of rapidly producing vaccines and other biologics against pandemic influenza and other emerging threats
The 2005 National Strategy for Pandemic Influenza established a commitment to making vaccine available for all Americans within six months of the emergence of a virus with pandemic potential. BARDA has made significant progress towards increasing and securing domestic manufacturing capacity for pandemic influenza vaccine development. However, the recent response to 2009 H1N1 shows that we are still hampered by the limits of current technology. The first domestic cases of 2009 H1N1 influenza were identified in April and the pandemic peaked about six months later, in late October. Despite an intensive effort to develop a pandemic vaccine, the 2009 H1N1 vaccine arrived too late to have a significant effect on the dynamics of the fall disease wave. Influenza vaccines licensed in the U.S. use egg-based technology that is more than 50 years old and a substantial portion of the manufacturing capacity is based overseas.
Consistent with recommendations from the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology in its August 2010 Report to the President on Re-engineering the Influenza Vaccine Production Enterprise to Meet the Challenges of Pandemic Influenza BARDA is working with several partners to develop more modern platforms for manufacturing influenza vaccines and this investment is beginning to pay off."The more one looks at the background and history of the current COVID vaccines, the more you realize that it was not an innovation, nor an effort, that occurred or began in 2020. The effort was years in the making and the results arrived in the nick of time. Now, if only people would behave rationally... that will take
a lot more time and effort!
* Sorry about the length of the post. Consider it to be a continuation of the narrative that I began earlier on the background and history of COVID vaccines. Regardless of how it was branded and marketed during an election year, credit goes to BARDA for the speed of production and scientists supported by NIAID for the development. While the six month goal wasn't met... it was accomplished with impressive speed nonetheless. There is also credit due to scientists worldwide and not just in the U.S.
** Bold type is as it appears in the original document linked above.
