Thread by @Noahpinion

1/America is not yet prepared for the massive effort we will need to produce and distribute vaccines.

Because we're still only thinking about the FIRST vaccination drive.

There may be more.

noahpinion.substack.com/p/the-vaccine-…

2/Soon (thanks to President Biden) we will solve the bottlenecks with distribution. At that point, production will become the limiting factor. We've only allocated 15 million first doses so far. Our population is 331 million.

bloomberg.com/graphics/covid…

3/But even that dramatically UNDERSTATES the size of the vaccine production and distribution challenge.

The reason: The virus may mutate into vaccine-resistant strains.

https://twitter.com/Williams_T_C/status/1345708240382918658

4/We may already be putting massive evolutionary pressure on the virus to evolve vaccine resistance.

If that happens, we basically start 2020 all over again.

https://twitter.com/PaulBieniasz/status/1345195420033691648

5/So what do we need to do to make sure we don't repeat 2020, with hundreds of thousands more deaths and another year of economic catastrophe?

We need to prepare to RAPIDLY RE-VACCINATE OUR WHOLE POPULATION with a tweaked vaccine against new strains. Flu shots on a grand scale.

6/The first thing we need is to streamline a RAPID APPROVAL PROCESS for tweaked vaccines against new strains. Like we do with flu shots.

Fortunately the FDA is already on it.

https://twitter.com/ATabarrok/status/1345830199443783683

7/Second, we need to build a MASSIVE SUPPLY CHAIN and production infrastructure for vaccines, that can produce tens of millions of doses a day. And we need to MAINTAIN this capacity even after it looks like the virus is receding!!

bloomberg.com/opinion/articl…

8/And third, we need to create and maintain a distribution infrastructure capable of VACCINATING THE ENTIRE POPULATION IN A FEW WEEKS.

washingtonpost.com/opinions/2021/…

9/Crucially, we need to not just create this economic, logistical, and regulatory infrastructure, but MAINTAIN IT even past the point where it looks like we don't need it. Because that's just when a resistant virus might come roaring back!

10/We are in a war against COVID, and this vaccination drive is just one battle. As we did in World War 2, we must transform large segments of our economy in order to fight that war.

We must do this. We have no other choice.

noahpinion.substack.com/p/the-vaccine-…

11/Anyway, if you like posts like this, sign up for my newsletter's free email list, to get my posts delivered directly to your inbox!

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noahpinion.substack.com