|
|
|
|
|
|
by rossdavidh
1880 days ago
|
|
|
What is possible given sufficient time, is very different from what is possible in a few months. Even in non-medical situations, getting a high-tech manufacturing process up and running takes years, not months, normally, and working long hours doesn't help as much as you think because the rate of mistakes goes up. But, having more capacity in a year's time, doesn't necessarily save any lives, since the mRNA vaccines are not the best fit for most of the world anyway, as they require two doses per person and are more demanding in the refrigeration requirements. The adenovirus vaccines, despite the one-in-a-quarter-million side affects, are much more likely to be usable in quantity in most of the world. So, you could get more capacity up in a year's time, when it won't be needed in the rich world and won't be useful in the rest of the world. My guess is Moderna just made this announcement to try to dispel the idea that their patent enforcement was somehow getting people killed. |
|
|
"as they require two doses per person and are more demanding in the refrigeration requirements."
Moderna doesn't require overly deep refrigeration, that is Pfizer. The difference is a technical one and one that Pfizer believes they can solve. So while it is true of the current Pfizer vaccines, it isn't true of mRNA vaccines generally.
Secondly, the two dose regimen is unnecessary, IMO. Pfizer and Moderna have higher efficacy with one dose than J&J or Astrazeneca have after their one shot. The FDA and others insisting on two doses is because of Pfizer and Moderna's original process called for two doses as they wanted to be sure of the efficacy and that is what they got approval for. Given many doctors are looking at the pandemic from the perspective of a patient rather than that of a population and a disease, they aren't willing to admit that two doses for Pfizer and Moderna is unnecessary and putting far more lives at risk.
The rest of the world can benefit, as those countries that can afford the higher priced vaccine may do so as they are more effective and available now, which helps to get them out of the market of the lower cost vaccines. That decrease in demand for J&J and others can then be filled by countries that don't have the funding or the infrastructure for the current mRNA vaccines, thereby keeping their price low.