US, wealthy west failing India and developing countries, says NYT

WASHINGTON: America and wealthy western countries are failing the developing world in a "moral test on vaccines," the New York Times editorial board said on Sunday, urging the Biden administration to adopt a bold, comprehensive strategy to vaccinate the world and warning the economic consequences of failure to do this would cost more than making vaccines.
In a trenchant editorial, the nation's most influential paper said the US is well on its way to protecting Americans from the coronavirus and it is now time to help the rest of the world by "marshaling this nation’s vast resources to produce and distribute enough vaccines to meet global demand."
The federal government, it said, has ample legal power to compel pharmaceutical companies to manufacture and also share critical information and technologies to make vaccines, and a $25 billion initiative — chump change compared to the $6 trillion plus the US has spent on stimulus — would produce around eight billion doses of mRNA vaccine (which it argued is the best option), enough to vaccinate half the planet.
"That’s far less than the trillions that could be lost if the economy contracts further as the pandemic persists," the editorial disquisition said, citing India, "facing its gravest humanitarian catastrophe in a generation," among the countries severely affected.
US action in this regard will be in keeping with the "nation’s best traditions and highest aspirations while advancing its geopolitical and economic interests. It is a moment of both obligation and opportunity," the paper said, warning that without a major US course correction, the rest of the world will have to wait until 2023 or later for large-scale vaccination initiatives like the one underway in the United States, and the consequent contraction of the global economy by trillions of dollars will push millions of people into poverty.
The liberal leaning paper criticised the Biden administration for its modest efforts, including what it called a "string of tactical decisions," such as donating millions of vaccine doses to countries in need and signaling support for patent waivers that might expedite vaccine production efforts, saying, "these are good steps, but they are not nearly sufficient to meet the moment."
Bigger, more urgent investments are needed given the gravity of the situation, it said, urging the Biden administration to focus on the mRNA vaccine, which do not need deep refrigeration. They are also both cheaper and easier to manufacture in massive quantities while being easier to modify as new variants emerge and regular boosters become a necessity.