Thought of the Day - April 14 - Hope for the Vaccine

Hi All,

Standard disclaimer, I know nothing - I just reflect on global issues from time to time.

As we all now understand, Covid-19 will dictate how we live our lives for months, nay, for years to come. The great white hope (no idea where that phrase came from) is that a vaccine is found. While there is speculation that a safe/reliable vaccine may not be possible, with the investment of trillions of dollars and the motivation of millions of lives potentially lost, we are giving it all we got.

Will the breakthrough come from the US (who is probably doing the lions share of the funding)? from India (who have the most PhDs per square foot on the planet)? from Israel (whose high-tech sector is world-renowned)? from Europe (where many big-pharma are located)? or from China (who have probably been working on this longer than anyone)? Who knows.

While companies and countries are still thinking that the development of a vaccine is their opportunity to get rich and powerful, but my hope is with the scientific community. The western-world dominance-card of patents and copyrights will not apply in this case. While people maybe be jailed and even killed over this, my hope is the information surrounding a vaccine will be disclosed in a timely manner for the benefit of all mankind.

So where does that leave Canada? The issue is not about finding a vaccine (if possible), it is about our capacity to test and manufacturing a vaccine. We have to hope that professionals in our government agencies successfully manage to tread the fine line between inadequate testing (that could impair or even kill many) and too much red tape (that could mean delays and many more lives lost).

Moreover, I would hope, unlike the supply of testing and medical equipment, our government is preparing for mass on-shore manufacturing of a potential vaccine. For, as we have recently seen, in matters of life and death other countries will be selfish.

In short, I hope and believe there are many in Canada that are thinking, not of the next case or the next month, but of the long game.

Cheers

Cliff