Given the economic effect of health hazards of viruses like this on big companies like Apple, I wonder if Apple itself couldn't justify investing into research for treatments and vaccines as a hedge against supply line damage. Makes sense purely in terms of business, doesn't it?
Near as I can tell, most of the vaccine development (outside of China) is being funded by charities right now. Drug companies were burned by Ebola investments and are not interesting in working on COVID-19. But if Apple thought they could speed up recovery by even a short time with careful investment here they'd more than make their money back.
>"One would think that the industry has the reserves to jump at this challenge. But none of the four top vaccine companies has shown significant interest," says Dr Ellen 't Hoen, director at medicines law and policy at University Medical Center Groningen in Amsterdam.
>Also speaking at last week's Aspen Institute event, Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said no major pharmaceutical company has come forward to say it would manufacture a vaccine for Covid-19. He called it "very difficult and very frustrating".
>"Companies that have the skill to be able to do it are not going to just sit around and have a warm facility, ready to go for when you need it," Dr Fauci said.
>For Covid-19, charitable donations are being used to spark pharma companies into action to find a vaccine.
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-51454859