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by zrn900 770 days ago
I may not remember the exact dates now as I didn't ever expect this to be something that would come up in any discussion. However:

> Vaccines in my memory only become broadly available

Yes, that makes a difference - the vaccines that got expedited approval were provided to 'essential workers' at the time - in the US this was only Pfizer until the harshest lockdown ended. In the Eu there were 5-6 vaccines available, however Pfizer still dominated the market.

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Pfizer was granted emergency use in the US on December 11 2020, Moderna was granted the same in the US on December 18, 2020. AstraZeneca was approved first in the UK December 30, 2020 (but due to the Sept 8 trial suspension approval was delayed in the US)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_COVID-19_vaccine_de...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oxford%E2%80%93AstraZeneca_COV...

Yet still, Pfizer ended up dominating both markets - by delaying the approval of those that could compete and the lobbying making it so that it was the one that was bulk purchased in quantity.

When I meant approval, I meant the approval of any competitor who could provide at scale. None such vaccine was allowed until the quarantine ended. Even after that Pfizer was still being pushed against all competitors including cheaper American ones. So long story short - their lobby won.