HUMANITY FIRST - WHAT PRICE VACCINES?

A question was asked “Is the vaccine in the United States free of charge?” Here is the current response:

 

“The federal government is providing the vaccine free of charge to people living in the United States. However, your vaccination provider may bill your insurance company, Medicaid, or Medicare for an administration fee. Vaccination providers can be reimbursed for this by the patient’s public or private insurance company or, for uninsured patients, by the Health Resources and Services Administration’s Provider Relief Fund. No one can be denied a vaccine if they are unable to pay the vaccine administration fee.”

 

There is more to a vaccination than just the cost of the vaccine itself. Manufacture and production costs are covered in the sale price of each dose or ampoule of vaccine. In addition, safely packaging the vaccine and getting it to a vaccination centre. Storing supplies of vaccine at the various vaccination centres. Supplying the syringes, sterilising and related equipment, such as PPE, cotton buds and bandages in order to administer the vaccine. The salaries of the professional personnel administering the vaccine, as well as the care and support of volunteer staff involved in administering the vaccine. So there is clearly an administration fee which may be higher than one might expect, given the volatile and temperature related nature of the various vaccine ampoules.

 

The different States will decide, in their own way, how to deal with the costs of delivering the vaccines to its citizen’s free of charge. The eventual bill will no doubt be covered by increases in various forms of taxation and insurance premiums down the line. One assumes that the various drug companies and manufacturers of the vaccine are taking minimal profits and not using the global nature of the pandemic to indulge in profiteering. There will also, unfortunately, be a number of charlatans and fraudsters who will attempt to cash in by selling counterfeit medication, along the lines of that third man, Harry Lime. The way some citizens immediately turn to deception in a crisis is rather  unsettling, but such is the way of the world.

Aneurin Bevan, Minister of Health, on the first

day of the National Health Service, 5 July 1948

at Park Hospital, Davyhulme, near Manchester

 

In any event, one of the greatest advantages that living in the United Kingdom in 2020 has engendered, is the very existence of its National Health Service. The fact that there has been in place, a national network, already geared up to be able to deal with this pandemic and the nationwide distribution and administration of vaccinations, is extraordinary. It may not be perfect, and maybe straining at the edges, but it was in place, which is why the United Kingdom has been able organise the vaccinations to so many, in so short a time, and probably at much less immediate cost.  Do not doubt that the eventual administrative costs will be astronomical, but remember and be thankful for what has been in place since July 1948. That’s only 73 years. It may cost, and continue to cost even more, but it has saved many lives and the very life of this country. I dread to think how this current government would have coped had it not been for the NHS being in place.

 

There are indeed serious economic problems ahead, not only those resulting from the pandemic, but from the stupidity of Britain’s exit from the European Union. I may be biased in my opinion, but one already sees and hears the grumbling from various sections of the community over the losses and costs being incurred as a result. The optimistic crap about the powerful force that is Stand Alone Britain, is just that, optimistic crap. I may be wrong as well as biased, but I am allowed to express a view. We are all fortunate in that respect as well; however, I strongly advise people to listen to a Radio 4 program presented by Camilla Schofield entitled “Britain’s Fascist Thread”

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/search?q=Britain%27s%20Fascist%20Thread&suggid=urn%3Abbc%3Aprogrammes%3Am000sbdy

I do not know how long it will be available, so do check it out. It is quite illuminating.

 

Although that is all very well for Britain, the rest of the world should not be left out. Care and concern for those in areas without the cover of a national health service or the democratic rule of civil law, must be expressed as well. A disintegrating world is neither healthy nor safe. A stand alone nation doesn’t work anymore. Note what America First had done to the United States. It has become more divided than ever. The Trump monster continues to sow and cultivate discord. He continues to perpetuates the lie of a stolen election and rails against anyone who has been critical of him.  There is indeed something of the schizophrenic about him and some of his republican acolytes and one-time detractors. Senator Mitch McConnell, having acquitted him in Congress, followed by a strong verbal denunciation in congress, claims that he would still vote for a President Trump should he be the Republican candidate in 2024. How mad is that? The insanity lingers on. Therein lies the prospect of America First. I do not believe a Making Britain Great Again approach in the UK, would fare well either.

 

What about humanity first? Or indeed the Earth First? I do not wish to necessarily reference the organisation Earth First, but it is very tempting to support. This radical environmental advocacy group was co-founded in April 1980, 41 years ago, by Dave Forman, once an active conservative republican who campaigned for Barry Goldwater for President of the United States. He had joined the Marine Corps’ Marine Officer Candidates School in Quantico, Virginia. He apparently received an undesirable discharge after 61 days. No doubt he’d read Edward Abbey’s The Monkeywrench Gang which inspired the founding of Earth First. They are pretty hard corps environmentalists. Extinction Rebellion is a kindergarten by comparison.

 

So if disillusioned republican activists can become environmental terrorists, or near enough, perhaps if we just let Trump run riot, disillusion will eventually set in and we’ll have an entirely new set of serious radicals roaming round the United States.

 

There is, by the way, an Earth First group in the UK and I believe Extinction Rebellion emerged out of that; however, I digress, making the vaccine free and available throughout the world is a priority not to be overlooked simply because the vaccination program in Britain is rolling out so swiftly. If Britain were to be completely cut off, covid free, and the rest of the world cultivating covid variants galore, what good would the vaccine program have done? Humanity first, I think.