Political Quotes

“Mr. President, a year ago Saturday, the previous administration, the Trump administration, launched something called Operation Warp Speed. At that time, it was a $10 billion program by the government, and it was designed to incentivize pharmaceutical companies to invest in developing, researching, and producing effective treatments and a vaccine for a disease that was ravaging and continues to ravage the world today. Less than 4 months later, a new antibody treatment was beginning to save American lives and improving the outcomes of patients with COVID- 19 here in America. And less than 7 months after that Operation Warp Speed program began, Americans began receiving the first dose of two different and highly effective vaccines. Why did the government have to step in? Why did the government have to provide the money? Wouldn't the market have solved this? There was certainly a demand. There was certainly a need for it. In fact, I would argue that people probably would have paid whatever it took to get their hands on a vaccine and on new treatments given the level of desperation that existed in May of last year here and around the world. Yes, the market would have eventually developed the antivirals, would have developed the antibody treatments, and would have developed the vaccine. The market would have eventually done it without the government stepping in, in this dramatic way. But it wouldn't have done it in the timing that we needed it. We needed it right away.…”