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“Pfizer Inc. said Monday that its COVID-19 vaccine may be a remarkable 90% effective.” AP News
Also on Monday, “[Joe Biden] named the members of a team of public health and science experts to develop a blueprint for fighting the coronavirus.” AP News
Both sides are encouraged that an effective vaccine may soon be available:
“The good news about the success shown in the Pfizer vaccine data is just the boost our spirits need… We still have some months to go but there may be a light at the end of this nightmare and that is something we can all embrace. All of the 44,000 clinical trial participants for the Pfizer vaccine across the globe must be pleased today.”
Karen Townsend, Hot Air
“It's fantastic news and a historic scientific accomplishment. Not only do we have the first effective vaccine, but the data also looks robust. Instead of evaluating the shot at the first possible moment, Pfizer waited for more data, which gives weight to the impressive results. There are still unknowns about the vaccine, and with limited supplies available until next year and two shots needed to complete treatment, it won't end a rampant pandemic overnight. The news does, however, substantially boost the chances of a quicker and easier resolution.”
Max Nisen, Bloomberg
Other opinions below.
“The apparent breakthrough is a credit to the innovative capacity of the private pharmaceutical industry… The contribution from Operation Warp Speed, the Trump Administration vaccine effort, will nonetheless be critical in distributing a vaccine to market. The feds have promised Pfizer $1.95 billion to deliver 100 million doses to the federal government that will then be given to Americans free of charge…
“The vaccine news, assuming it holds, also vindicates President Trump’s oft-expressed optimism. He had hoped this breakthrough would come in October, before Election Day, and he was off by a week. He can still take credit for mobilizing the government to accelerate the approval of vaccines and therapies in what is likely to be record time. He streamlined bureaucratic reporting lines and prodded the FDA to collaborate with vaccine developers to consider results in nearly real time.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
“New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose record as the nation’s most incompetent state-level manager of the COVID crisis is unrivaled… spent much of the campaign insisting that Donald Trump was personally interfering in the process of developing a safe vaccine so that it could be brought to market before the election. Given that the election cycle ended nearly a week ago, he should be able to admit at this point that this fanciful outcome did not materialize. And yet, Cuomo just cannot bring himself to dispense with the hysteria…
“To the extent that there was any substance to Cuomo’s criticism, it was in a conjectural critique of the private health-care system, which he speculated would be ‘slow’ (slower than the public sector, somehow) and implicitly discriminates against at-risk populations such as minorities…
“Cuomo’s claim that at-risk populations will be discriminated against doesn’t comport with what Centers for Disease Control Director Robert Redfield told Congress in September—that the most at-risk populations and frontline health-care workers will have privileged access to a vaccine. The governor’s contentions are also untethered to what public health experts have advised the Biden administration to do, which is to lean heavily on and financially support the private sector to facilitate the distribution and refrigeration of a vaccine on an unprecedented scale.”
Noah Rothman, Commentary Magazine
“A lot of media folk lambasted President Trump for predicting [a vaccine this year], but thank goodness he appears to have been right on target…
“Now that all the votes have been cast Mr. Trump’s opponent, former Vice President Joe Biden, will likely be more comfortable acknowledging how similar his Covid plan is to the Trump plan. During the campaign Mr. Biden shamefully claimed that Mr. Trump was responsible for U.S. virus deaths. Now there seems to be an implicit acknowledgment that Team Biden agrees with the White House on key aspects of the federal response and doesn’t want to disrupt them…
“If Mr. Biden is certified as the winner of the election, he and all Americans will be able to enjoy a rebounding economy and an increasingly effective medical response to Covid. The latter will directly save many lives and indirectly save more by making it nearly impossible for state and local politicians to maintain their misguided lockdowns.”
James Freeman, Wall Street Journal
“Just because Trump got most things about the virus wrong doesn’t mean he got everything wrong. It is incumbent on those of us who are his critics to acknowledge that so far Operation Warp Speed — the effort to develop and distribute a covid-19 vaccine — appears to be succeeding far beyond initial expectations…
“‘Going from where we were in January and February — where we are going to be hit by this tsunami — to very likely having a vaccine, or more than one vaccine, that is proven safe and effective within a year, is staggeringly impressive, and would only have happened with strong and effective federal action,’ Robert Wachter, chair of the department of medicine at the University of California at San Francisco, told The Post. He called the vaccine effort ‘nearly flawless’ — words that he found hard to say, he admitted, because he has strongly (and rightly) criticized the administration’s overall response to the virus.”
Max Boot, Washington Post
“While the vaccine could be an economic gamechanger, it will take months before doses are widely available -- and the US economy badly needs help now in the form of stimulus… Economists have urged Congress to consider providing enhanced unemployment benefits, forgivable loans to small businesses, aid to the travel industry and funds that prevent a wave of layoffs by local governments hit by massive revenue shortfalls…
“‘The vaccine is great. It makes everyone feel better. But at the end of the day, the pandemic is as bad as it's ever been,’ said [Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Analytics]. ‘We still have a lot of unemployed people, small businesses struggling to survive, airlines running on fumes.’… The vaccine progress should minimize fears from deficit hawks that Uncle Sam is going to be on the hook for never-ending support to the economy. ‘The fact the vaccine is in sight could make us feel comfortable spending this money,’ said Constance Hunter, chief economist at KPMG. ‘We can give you this bridge to the other side because we know it won't be the world's longest bridge.’”
Matt Egan, CNN
“With President-elect Biden announcing his coronavirus task force on Monday, there is sure to be a tug of war between the outgoing Trump administration and the incoming Biden administration on whose guidance the nation should follow during these lame-duck months…
“For example, the most important first decision for any vaccine that reaches the point of public distribution will be how best to determine which groups receive it first. Healthcare workers? Police officers? Military personnel? The BioNTech-product will initially have at most a 50 million dose supply for worldwide (not just US) use, demonstrating the need -- soon, hopefully -- for this type of decision. Prior to the vaccine announcement, the Trump administration had not laid out a clear public health plan.”
Kent Sepkowitz, CNN
“Like many decisions Biden is likely to make over the coming weeks and months, his task-force lineup may be radical only by comparison to the president’s — when he wasn’t threatening to disband it, Trump’s COVID-19 task force included very few infectious-disease experts, favoring instead a number of his political allies and advisers. If it’s not especially courageous to staff a pandemic-fighting task force with people who know how to fight pandemics, it’s now oddly novel — and quite reassuring.”
Katie Heaney, The Cut