378. Beware the right place, right time effect

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I heard today from a friend who is directly involved in the US, or I should say the Californian, vaccination effort that herd immunity will be reached in the Sunny State by the end of May, with all over 16s now eligible to be vaccinated. This is an incredible turnaround from the position in the US only a few months ago, when the coronavirus battle was definitely being lost and the country was on its knees. It is tempting to put this down to Biden’s leadership, the order after the strident chaos. We must remember, however, that the global increase in vaccine availability is not down to Biden’s administration, but just to the completion of a gargantuan effort by the pharmaceutical industry, finally able to ramp production up after completing development. Politics are fickle and timing can be critical to outcomes. In this case, I am glad to see Biden rather than Trump benefit from this ‘right place, right time’ effect, but we must remember it can benefit the wrong leaders elsewhere

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Location: Hereford, UK

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