Narrative: "It's safe and it works"

Oxford coronavirus vaccine safe and promising, according to early human trial results published in the Lancet

By

William Booth and

Carolyn Y. Johnson

July 20, 2020 at 2:52 PM EDT

LONDON — A University of Oxford group and the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca reported Monday that their coronavirus vaccine candidate, on which the U.S. and European governments have placed substantial bets, was shown in early-stage human trials to be safe and to stimulate a strong immune response.

The study, published in the British medical journal the Lancet and involving 1,077 volunteers, was described as promising. A second report in the same publication on a Chinese vaccine showed what researchers not involved in the study described as modest positive results.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/oxford-coronavirus-vaccine-phase-1-lancet/2020/07/20/12fbbc92-c857-11ea-a825-8722004e4150_story.html

Narrative: Americians need to pay for our psyop.

A COVID-19 vaccine at what price? Should all Americans be able to get a shot for free?

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USA TODAY logo A COVID-19 vaccine at what price? Should all Americans be able to get a shot for free?

How much should it cost the average American to get a COVID-19 vaccine shot in the arm?

Although a vaccine is still months if not longer away, billions of tax dollars are being spent to rapidly research, develop, manufacture and distribute several candidates. The federal government has already promised to make a vaccine free for people of low income. But how many taxpayer dollars would enable everyone to get it without paying?

That's not clear, in part, because the government hasn't released the details of the contracts it's signing with vaccine developers, five of which will update members of Congress this morning on their efforts.

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Drug companies should be making some profit, because they've redirected thousands of employees to developing a COVID-19 vaccine in recent months, economists argue. And, if they don't make any money on the current vaccine effort, they might be less likely to step up the next time the world is in dire need.

However, just how much profit, if any, has been baked into the contracts, hasn't been made public.

Written testimony in advance of today's committee hearing indicates some companies may initially give up or minimize profits.

A company that forgoes or minimizes profits this year might be able to more than recoup that investment in future years – if people need boosters or even annual shots to keep the virus at bay – while reaping good publicity for keeping the costs down now.

Democrat Washington Sen. Patty Murray said she wants the next COVID-19 relief package of $25 billion to include money ensuring a vaccine is free and available to every American. But she doesn't know how much it will cost to do that, because the vaccines are still being developed, and because the administration hasn't released the contracts it is signing with drug companies

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/a-covid-19-vaccine-at-what-price-should-all-americans-be-able-to-get-a-shot-for-free/ar-BB16ZXND

– Maybe we should just bill Chy-na