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Let the ultra-rich and influential skip the line for Covid-19 vaccines?

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Re: Let the ultra-rich and influential skip the line for Covid-19 vaccines?

#31

Post by _qwfv »

I thought this was satire after reading the headline.

But no, this is someone suggesting celebrities and billionaires should be the first people we protect.

In a healthy functioning society, we'd protect the most vulnerable first -- elderly, front line workers, grocery store workers, etc. And we'd find the funding to make that happen either by taxing the ultra wealthy or just printing money because it's a pandemic and they are relatively rare events and the cost to vaccinate everyone is relatively fixed.

We have plenty of elderly celebrities who could still be at the front of the line cheering on the vaccine.

The approach the author suggests seems like government with extra steps to me.

Re: Let the ultra-rich and influential skip the line for Covid-19 vaccines?

#32

Post by HuwytNashi_004 »

DennisP wrote: post #19
kingaillas wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I've been thinking about the whole "public vaccination" virtue signaling that politicians have been doing. That's not virtue signaling, or not ONLY virtue signaling - they get priority due to continuity of government laws. See https://www.rollcall.com/2020/12/13/white-house-congress-jud... Now if they had integrity, the ones that dismissed, downplayed, ignored, refused to wear masks, etc. should have skipped their d…

Also there's a lot of anti-vax sentiment, and seeing politicians take the vaccine themselves helps counter that.

It's doing the opposite. Some of them have been reenactments, on closer inspection, which only fuel scepticism.

Re: Let the ultra-rich and influential skip the line for Covid-19 vaccines?

#33

Post by superkuh »

xiphias2 wrote: post #21

The $100M/vaccine price is stupid, but I would easily pay $1000 to get the vaccine early and raise money for factories. With just 20M doses it would mean $10B income for Moderna.

In paragraphs 8 and 9 the plan proposed includes descending tiers of priority/price down to about $25k.

Re: Let the ultra-rich and influential skip the line for Covid-19 vaccines?

#34

Post by xur17 »

wegs wrote: post #28
xiphias2 wrote: post #21

The $100M/vaccine price is stupid, but I would easily pay $1000 to get the vaccine early and raise money for factories. With just 20M doses it would mean $10B income for Moderna.

If the federal government acted like a scalper, I wouldn't feel bad about it. Open auction, with price going as high as it wants, right down to zero. Special categories (e.g. multiple co-morbidities, medical workers) cut to the front, and pay market rate. Let businesses foot much of the bill. If I need to pay $1000 to reopen my factory, it might be a good investment. Free market will allocate resources.

That, or allot some small percentage (5%) for people to bid on to jump the line. Open auction as you described, possibly with a minimum.

Re: Let the ultra-rich and influential skip the line for Covid-19 vaccines?

#35

Post by ForHackernews »

wegs wrote: post #28
xiphias2 wrote: post #21

The $100M/vaccine price is stupid, but I would easily pay $1000 to get the vaccine early and raise money for factories. With just 20M doses it would mean $10B income for Moderna.

If the federal government acted like a scalper, I wouldn't feel bad about it. Open auction, with price going as high as it wants, right down to zero. Special categories (e.g. multiple co-morbidities, medical workers) cut to the front, and pay market rate. Let businesses foot much of the bill. If I need to pay $1000 to reopen my factory, it might be a good investment. Free market will allocate resources.

Yeah, but it's much cheaper to re-open your factory without vaccinating your workers and just threaten to fire anyone who has health concerns. That's how most places have been operating so far.

For extra credit: https://www.tpr.org/business/2020-12-17/tyson-foods-fires-7-...

Re: Let the ultra-rich and influential skip the line for Covid-19 vaccines?

#36

Post by inakarmacoma »

adolph wrote: post #20

Sounds good to me, let them be the guinea pigs. The ultra-rich and influential seem to be a renewable resource so it’s not like society will run out, if there are risks not found by tests thus far it won’t be swept under the rug, and they are not so numerous that they will make a serious impact on the supply chain.

Aside from the massive number of testers in Phase 3 trials across the globe?

Re: Let the ultra-rich and influential skip the line for Covid-19 vaccines?

#38

Post by HuwytNashi_006 »

DennisP wrote: post #19
kingaillas wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>I've been thinking about the whole "public vaccination" virtue signaling that politicians have been doing. That's not virtue signaling, or not ONLY virtue signaling - they get priority due to continuity of government laws. See https://www.rollcall.com/2020/12/13/white-house-congress-jud... Now if they had integrity, the ones that dismissed, downplayed, ignored, refused to wear masks, etc. should have skipped their d…

Also there's a lot of anti-vax sentiment, and seeing politicians take the vaccine themselves helps counter that.

It's doing the opposite. Some of them have been reenactments, on closer inspection, which understandably fuel scepticism.

Re: Let the ultra-rich and influential skip the line for Covid-19 vaccines?

#39

Post by ForHackernews »

chadash wrote: post #30

I don't think it's a crazy idea, but the numbers here seem a bit hopeful. I don't think you're gonna get 100 people to pay $100 million for an earlier spot in the line. Or 1000 people to pay $10 million. Particularly because people with that amount of money to throw around (if you can pay $10 million for one vaccine, you are very very wealthy) know that they can most likely pull strings to get ahead in the line anywa…

According to this article https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/rich-wealt... some people are offering ~$25,000 to jump the line.

Re: Let the ultra-rich and influential skip the line for Covid-19 vaccines?

#40

Post by mmcconnell1618 »

xiphias2 wrote: post #21

The $100M/vaccine price is stupid, but I would easily pay $1000 to get the vaccine early and raise money for factories. With just 20M doses it would mean $10B income for Moderna.

The prices suggested in this article are too high, even for the super rich. They have other forms of influence. They might have a golf buddy who knows the CEO of a pharma company who can get a few doses off the line for friends.

But, offering the middle/upper income class a $1000 chance to jump ahead could generate just as much money with a much larger population getting protection.

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