Pay a Bounty to Develop a Covid-19 Vaccine Faster
If it shortened the crisis by just two weeks, it would be well worth the money.
Photographer: David L. Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
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If we want a vaccine or drug treatment to stop coronavirus, the government should ignore those complaining about drug-company profits and commit to a huge reward that encourages more businesses to develop one. It wouldn’t just save lives; it could save the global economy.
The coronavirus could cost the U.S. $1.5 trillion in annual economic output, or $125 billion every month — and that’s a conservative estimate. The losses for the entire world economy will be four to five times larger. And these economic costs will be dwarfed by the human costs of illness and death.