COVID Booster Shots – Benefit or Just Big Bucks?

 

FLORIDA  
WEST COAST        

Opinion by:  
E. Eugene Webb PhD 

COVID-19 is big business. In the United States the three primary providers of COVID-19 vaccines Moderna, Pfizer and Johnson and Johnson are making billions of dollars providing COVID-19 vaccinations.

It's not too surprising, that these drug companies are trying to figure out how to maximize the return on investment from these lifesaving vaccines.

A one dose, or two dose vaccine produces a fixed amount of revenue. However, if the drug companies can convince the FDA that ongoing vaccinations are a necessity, they have just created the medical equivalent of a very profitable oil well.

It was not particularly surprising, when Pfizer threw down the gauntlet on booster shots by preliminarily indicating they felt booster shots would be necessary soon.

For some insight check out this article From The Tampa Bay Times by the Associated Press: Pfizer to discuss coronavirus vaccine booster with US officials.

Rest assured that Johnson and Johnson and Moderna are watching from the wings to see the reaction to the Pfizer push for booster shots.

Until now, COVID-19 vaccinations have been free to the public. For some information on cost and funding check out: HEALTH AFFAIRS BLOG by Richard G. Frank, Leslie Dach, Nicole Lurie: It Was The Government That Produced COVID-19 Vaccine Success.

In addition, all those health-care workers and nurses at the various vaccination sites, testing sites, hospitals, and clinics where both testing and vaccinations were conducted are also being paid for by funds from the federal government accumulated from numerous governmental budgeting sources.

The primary drug manufacturers producing the COVID-19 virus, are literally making billions of dollars in profits from the sale and distribution of COVID-19 vaccine shots.

Going forward, I think it may be a good idea, since the federal government essentially paid for the development of these vaccines, that the vaccines themselves have their patent and copyright protections removed, and generic versions be allowed immediately in an effort to control costs.

If, as it appears, COVID-19 or the COVID strain of viruses is going to be an ongoing medical issue for not only the United States but the world, excessive profiteering from government developed and produced vaccines should absolutely be stopped.

As we move forward in fighting the COVID viruses and their evolution, the role of the federal government as sole provider and payee must diminish, and that cost be absorbed in the traditional medical process and paid for as appropriate buy Medicare and healthcare insurance.

Big pharma has never missed a chance in the history of time to take a life-threatening disease and turn it into a long-term high-profit  business.

With the global scope of COVID-19 and the potentially disastrous effects, this new strain of viruses can have on global health care; we need to do everything to ensure that the profit motive does not become the driving force to provide the vaccines necessary to combat the global nature of this pandemic.

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