How best to introduce this blog post?  I have pondered for days- which is why this has remained in my queue for so long.  Well, cerebrations and deliberations are over…

We are currently experiencing a major outbreak of COVID-19 yet again.  Except this is really not a wave- this is because a new variant has been created.  One that is highly transmissive- and thankfully less deadly than the delta (and original) variants.  Because it is a confluence of the common cold and the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

How did this happen?  Simply because too many of us simply are not vaccinated, which would diminish the possibilities of the virus to find a host.  And, I’m not just talking about those Americans that seem to think their “liberty” outweighs the considerations of the society as a whole.

(Consider these three scenarios.  When one of their purported heroes, Winston Churchill, requested Britons to turn off their lights to make the bombing by the Germans (Nazis) more difficult, would these recalcitrant simply say “No”, because it was infringing upon their personal liberties?  Or, should New Yorkers withhold their federal taxes, since their moneys get diverted to folks in Texas, Oklahoma, Florida, among others?  (All of whom remit less money to the federal treasury than they receive back in benefits.)  And, finally, why is it when Arkansans, Texans, or Louisianans suffer terrible trauma, federal bailouts and special relief funds are “required” but when New Yorkers or New Jerseyans get blitzed by natural disasters, the Senators from the first three (among others) want funds withheld? 
Yeah, I thought so. It’s simply a version of NIMBYism made large, by those amoral creatures who believe only they count.)

As I said, it’s more than just selfish or misguided Americans.   The entire Southern Hemisphere is severely lacking in immunized individuals.  Because they lack vaccine supplies and the ability to deliver dosages that require special equipment.

Hence, the delta variant that originated in India and the omicron that began in South Africa.  We rich denizens of the world must make vaccines freely available there to truly contain the pandemic.

Enter Dr. Peter Hotez (and his long-term associate, Dr. Maria Elena Bottazzi).  Peter is among the enlightened folks routinely seen (and heard) on news programs that deliver facts- not bulls….  Among them are Drs. Tony Fauci, Francis Collins, Zeke Emmanuel, Michael Osterholm, even Scott Gottlieb (who way too often decries the business interests rather than the sci/med ones).

Hotez and Bottazzi are associated with the Texas Children’s Hospital Center of Vaccine Development.  (Oh- they are also associated with Baylor School of Medicine.)

Thanks to Tito’s Vodka (who anted up some $ 1 million) plus a bunch of others to accumulate some $ 7 million for this effort, Hotez and Bottazzi have developed a new vaccine, Corbevax.  That’s right $ 7 million is all it took.  Which is about 0.12% of the amount of money the Feds threw at Moderna to develop their vaccine.

Oh, and there’s more.  Hotez and Bottazzi are being recompensed ZERO dollars for this effort.  Through the Baylor Foundation (which, admittedly is receiving license fees), the vaccine has been licensed to a slew of third world firms that will bring the inoculations to the rest of the world.

One of the first licensees is Biological E (aka, BioE in Hyderabad, India).   Which is about to introduce 1 billion shots this calendar year, at a price point of about $ 2.50 US per dose.  (Just so you know, 150 million doses already exist- and are approved under Emergency Regulations in India.   Note further that, as far as I can tell, there is no data regarding its efficiency against the omicron variant. Clinical trials are being run under the auspices of the Infectious Disease Clinical Research Consortium, in association with the NIH [the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, a unit of the National Institute of Health.)

The technology to produce this vaccine has been around forever (as opposed to the novel mRNA technology for the BioNTech-Pfizer/Moderna vaccines).  Fermentation, using yeast, and recombinant protein technology (it contains a specific part of the spike protein that characterizes the SARS-CoV-2)- akin to the Hepatitis B vaccine used in third world countriesis the production basis.  Moreover, there is no need to find refrigerators that operate at -80, which makes the mRNA vaccines virtually useless in resource poor communities.

By the way, other countries and other firms are being licensed as we read this post.  That’s a good thing, because the world needs something on the order of 10 billion doses to inoculate the world.

Still, maybe this can really lead to the beginning of the end.

 

2021 Income Taxes are Coming Due- Here’s a tome that should help you (Kindle, paperback, hardcover)