Curiously absent from the gusher of money spent by the US Federal Government on covid response, is funding for the open source vaccine:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corbevax
A protein subunit vaccine, involving no fancy new technology, no mRNA, no viral vectors, no “killed virus”. None of that. Just a snippet of a protein which nonetheless trains the body’s immune system to more readily and naturally respond to a runaway replication (the same mechanism used for the Polio and Measles, mumps, rubella vaccines). Some people’s bodies will likely be prepared based on small exposures, but this makes the response more solid.
So far Tito’s Vodka provided most of the funding. Seriously? A Vodka company funding Pharma research?
Presumably the bigger companies don’t particularly like the concept of an easily manufactured, low cost, effective, non-freezer vaccine… perhaps an example of regulatory capture?