“The cancellation means that the government is discarding what could be one of the most effective and rapid tools to combat an avian influenza outbreak,” said Amesh Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, adding that it is the opposite approach Trump took with Operation Warp Speed to combat COVID-19.

  • Chana [none/use name]@hexbear.net
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    17
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    12 days ago

    This might actually be a good thing because if the US gives up being ahead on this tech then China and others can take on that role, preventing the use of vaccines to strong-arm other countries and extracting huge profits from poor people.

    • barrbaric [he/him]@hexbear.net
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      18
      ·
      12 days ago

      Eh, even CoronaVac/SinoVac was only distributed through the COVAX program. China did support the TRIPS waiver but from what I can tell, when the US shut it down, they didn’t just grant a waiver to their own industry. Perhaps that’s a WTO rule or something that would punish them for doing that on their own but honestly, fuck the WTO.

      • Chana [none/use name]@hexbear.net
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        12 days ago

        That’s true, but I do think that was a “we follow the rules” type of move that will be less applicable if the US isn’t selling a vaccine.