| > And I'll bet money that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines were, as a practical matter, given a green light by the FDA when the first early phase III results came back, months before formal approvals (which actually came in the middle of the phase III trials); meaning there would've been no regulatory risk to pushing the manufacturing pipeline into maximum overdrive. If this is true this is the most insane thing I've ever heard. They can't have it both ways. You can't say "the FDA knew it was safe and effective so they gave the geeen light to the manufacturers" and also "they had to withhold this vaccine from the population because they didn't know if it was safe and effective". > Is COVID-19 providing cautionary tales regarding government intervention in the free market? I don't believe criticism of the government needs to be condensed into "government intervention good" or "government intervention bad". I don't think the solution is smaller government or bigger government it's better government. The FDA has royally fucked up over and over again by being far too cautious. A lot of the government fucked up when they said masks didn't work. The CDC fucked up when they promoted vaccinating essential workers instead of the old. And the executive branch has been far too cautious and uninvolved in ensuring we have enough high quality masks, and broadening vaccine the pipeline. |