In the United Kingdom, people are getting Pfizer’s Covid vaccine. The idea that we’ve officially entered the vaccine stage of this thing in the Western Hemisphere actually made me do a fist pump this morning. This is huge.
The process looks very organized in the UK, where they’re converting sports stadiums to vaccine delivery locations for the masses. That is in part because in the UK they have the National Health Service, which means structure for everyone, ultimately, to get stuck. (Prime Minister Boris Johnson is waiting for his place in line, he said today.)
Here in the US, there is second-guessing of a Trump administration decision not to buy more vaccine from Pfizer, which is first out of the gate in the UK. It’s also likely to be first in the US, but did not take part in all of Operation Warp Speed, the US vaccine effort. (Note: A former board member for Moderna, a Pfizer competitor, leads Operation Warp Speed.)
And there is no clear idea who will get the vaccine when in the US, although an executive order should be coming from President Donald Trump on that.
Here, there’s a profit motive to health care and it’s not clear to me that everyone will get a dose for free. It’s also not clear who will want to take it. An administration official said Monday that by the end of March, 100 million Americans could have a vaccination — everyone who wants it. There are more than 300 million people in this country.
Read the full analysis:
