The production process for a messenger(m)RNA-based coronovirus vaccine is basically as follows:

Identify antigen → Standardized plasmid & mRNA → Standardized vaccine antigen (mg scale) → Standardized multiproduct facility (kg scale) → Standard needle & syringe for vaccination (1)

*

antigen: a substance for producing antibodies.

plasmid: a crucial biotech tool for manipulating genes.

Standardized vaccine antigen: a phase for clinical trials.

…

The above flowchart is by no means a timeline because time is still an unknown factor here. We may know what we are going to get, but we don’t know exactly when we will get it. Meanwhile, the fallout from the stay-at-home order has caught up with us. Our economy is now on life support. Reopening has become a—if not the—hot-button issue. It was also the bone of contention between Dr. Anthony Fauci and Senator Rand Paul (himself a medical doctor) during the US Senate hearing on May 12, 2020.(2)

I would sum up Dr. Fauci’s argument against reopening in three words: Do no harm. No harm?(3) Back in late January Dr. Fauci, among others, opposed President Trump’s travel ban on China.(4) In retrospect, his advice as a medical expert would have put a lot more Americans in harm’s way. He took the Wuhan outbreak too lightly, as if he fell for Beijing’s coverup hook, line, and sinker. It didn’t help when he openly vouched for a WHO director-general so obviously in Beijing’s pocket.(5)

Sen. Paul has argued for reopening on the merits of pragmatism. He accepts that real life demands risk-calculating and risk-taking.(6) He doesn’t accept that we have to freeze our economy up while waiting for a vaccine, as Dr. Fauci implies. 

More and more states share Sen. Paul’s view. So far they have shown that social distancing and economic reopening can accommodate each other. On a personal level the average American is not afraid to take calculated risks to mitigate the pandemic fallout. Today, of course, no one can understate the economic hardships on top of mounting casualties.(7) Tomorrow? Well, since we care about tomorrow we must be freeing ourselves from today. Americans always move on.

——Lingyang Jiang 

Footnotes:

(1) Here is a paradigm for the vaccine production process:

RNA_Vaccines_White_Paper_Moderna_050317_v8_4.pdf

(2) https://youtu.be/D5wSe4w9Tv4

(3) Doctors are human too. First, do no harm - Harvard Health Blog 

(4) Just for the record, President Trump, for whatever reason (the trade deal?), continued to praise Xi Jinping even after closing the US to China for the coronavirus:https://youtu.be/AkuvYUT9c74

(5) https://youtu.be/pMjyTioY8Rg

(6) Full article: The meaning of risk-taking – key concepts and dimensions

(7) On “Fox News Sunday” Economist Mohamed A. El-Erian proposes a three-pronged approach to recovery: a) infrastructure, b) labor retooling, and c) safety nets. https://youtu.be/Oy6FAJurXds