Letters to editor for Tuesday, May 4, 2021
Letter writers
Vaccine companies got lots of help
A recent letter (“Vaccines from capitalism, not socialism') appeared to attack liberals for getting vaccinated while seemingly giving full credit to American private industry — and Operation Warp Speed announced May 15, 2020 — for the development of vaccines for COVID-19.
President Trump’s administration and American private industry should share some credit, but let’s look at the facts. Here is an excerpt from a (Wikipedia) history of vaccine development; it suggests capitalism and Trump alone were not what helped develop the vaccines.
“After a coronavirus was isolated in December 2019, its genetic sequence was published on 11 January 2020, triggering an urgent international response to prepare for an outbreak and hasten development of a preventive COVID-19 vaccine.