UK residents will begin receiving vaccine in a few days, but not you.
When talk of a quickly available Covid vaccine began, government health experts scoffed at the very idea that such a medicine could possibly be developed in fewer than a few years. Some estimates placed vaccine availability at four or even five years away. When a certain politician asserted that a vaccine could be ready before the end of this year, the guffaws from the knowing experts were deafening.
But the private sector rose to the occasion, using cutting-edge techniques to create vaccines not only quickly, but with an effective rate far better than typical vaccines of this kind. This new approach to medical solutions will likely alter the way we approach medial research and development for the better.
But while the UK will begin administering a vaccine created by the American company, Pfizer and partners, Americans will not receive injections. In fact, the FDA will not even schedule a panel to discuss the vaccine until December 10th. This date is for a review, not an approval.
The reason is that the FDA takes all of the data that has been produced by pharmaceutical experts in Pfizer, along with the thousands of pages of test results and then review that raw data all over again, from the start, replicating the evaluations that have already been tested and published.
According to the New York Times, no other major country works this way. Instead, regulators work with the company experts and rely on their analysis to guide drug approvals. Only in the US do we repeat the painstaking work of the private sector experts before approving the use of a drug – even this one.
The UK is lucky, moving quickly to get this medication to their population. The EU, while not constrained by FDA type approvals has a different government problem. The European Medicines Agency must now seek separate approvals from twenty-seven member countries before allowing the use of the vaccine.
Libertarian presidential candidate Jo Jorgensen made FDA approvals a major part of her platform and talked about the importance of getting government out of the way of the scientists at most of her stump speeches. “When I am elected president,” she declared at her Philadelphia stop,” I will remove FDA oversight over efficacy of drugs. Their job will be only to review the safety of a medicine, and public will choose the most effective cures.”
The first UK doses are expected to be given to hospital workers beginning at 7 pm, Monday, December 7th. No one knows when we will see a vaccine. The US has ordered 100 million doses to be stored in freezers, as the clock continues to tick. The private sector has risen to the challenge and performed with spectacular results. The government now stands in the way of improving the health of their population because of the need to control things they have no business doing. Libertarians have pointed out for decades how inefficient agencies like the FDA are. Today we are seeing just how dangerous this inefficiency can be.