In today’s editorial, the WSJ says that Trump’s vaccine bet was government’s best pandemic decision.
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A bold move:
American governments, federal and state, have made many mistakes in the Covid-19 pandemic.
But the great success — the saving grace — was making a financial bet in collaboration with private American industry on the development of vaccines.
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A fast track to normalcy
That effort is now letting the country see the possibility of a return to relatively normal life as early as the spring.
President Biden announced that the U.S. should have enough vaccine supply for every American adult by the end of May.
[That’s months, or years, before Dr. Fauci and other experts said to expect the first doses of a Covid vaccine to be delivered.]
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False claims try to diminish the achievement:
Critics scoffed when President Trump set a target of having a vaccine approved by the end of 2020.
Kamala Harris suggested she would not take a shot recommended by the Trump Administration.
The Biden-Harris Administration has now changed to full-throated encouragement — though not before continuing to trash the Trump efforts.
President Biden and White House aides have repeatedly stated that they inherited little vaccine supply and no plan for distribution.
Both claims are false.
The claim that the administration inherited no vaccine program at all, initially propagated through the ministrations of a kindly reporter, is so at odds with the evidence that even the most friendly newspapers were obliged to call it out.
The supply was ramping up fast, and while there were distribution glitches at first, the real problem has been the last mile of distribution controlled by states [at their demand].
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Politically-inflicted complexity:
Governors like New York’s Andrew Cuomo tried to satisfy political constituencies that wanted early access to vaccines, adding complexity and bureaucracy that confused the public.
Mr. Biden is making the same mistake, asking states to give priority to educators (read: teachers unions), school staffers and child-care workers.
That is arbitrary and unfair.
A 30-year-old teacher who may still work remotely until September is at far less risk than a 50-year-old FedEx driver who interacts with customers all day.
The fairest, least political distribution standard is age.
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The big bet:
The Trump Administration’s Operation Warp Speed also contracted most of the vaccine supply for production before approval by the FDA: 200 million doses each of Pfizer and Moderna, and 100 million of J&J.
No one knew which technology would be approved first, if at all, so the Trump administration wisely bet on several [with firm advance orders and contract options to order more once the vaccines were approved and in distribution].
This was a grand strategy and the best money the feds spent in the pandemic.
Mr. Biden ought to give the vaccine credit where it is due — to U.S. drug companies and Operation Warp Speed.
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I couldn’t have said it better myself…
The Homa Files 
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