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posted by martyb on Sunday March 15 2020, @10:16PM   Printer-friendly
from the taking-a-stab-at-it dept.

German company CureVac has received a rather strange offer from the current White House.

On March 3, CureVac's CEO was invited to the White House, for a meeting with President Trump, Vice Pence and several members of the Coronavirus Task Force. Asked for when a vaccine could be ready, he estimated that a potential candidate could be ready within a few months. Apparently, that triggered the members of the meeting so much, that they've now offered to buy the company, at whatever price.

One condition though: production would be exclusively for the United States.

The move is not exactly one to gain popularity, and follows on the heels of the President's worrying statement that "a large number of new clusters in the United States were seeded by travelers from Europe".


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  • (Score: 3, Touché) by barbara hudson on Sunday March 15 2020, @11:58PM (13 children)

    by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Sunday March 15 2020, @11:58PM (#971715) Journal

    It's entirely believable. It would restore the US to the only industrial superpower again. But it would also be a crime against humanity:

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  • (Score: 4, Informative) by RandomFactor on Monday March 16 2020, @12:59AM (8 children)

    by RandomFactor (3682) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 16 2020, @12:59AM (#971740) Journal

    Trump would probably work to make sure the USA was not frozen out or gouged into oblivion for a viable treatment. He would also be interested in funding production in the US. Both of these are right in line with his goals and philosophy and a straightforward response to the global medicine shortages already in the pipeline due to production disruptions in China.
     
    From the very same article, and conveniently left out of the summary:

    A U.S. official said: “This story is wildly overplayed ... We will continue to talk to any company that claims to be able to help. And any solution found would be shared with the world.”

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    • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 16 2020, @01:11AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday March 16 2020, @01:11AM (#971742)

      I see we have a Trumper who still hasn't realized that Trump is a corrupt conman who csres NOTHING for his base aside from the power they give him. He does the right thing from time to time because he isn't 100% a monster when it does not conflict with his personal prosperity. But expecting him to handle this crisis in any way that isn't fubar is wishful.

      Not to give much credence to this story, sounds a bit overblown for media hype more than truth. But there I go with the wishful thinking ;)

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by edIII on Monday March 16 2020, @02:04AM

      by edIII (791) on Monday March 16 2020, @02:04AM (#971755)

      Bullshit. Exclusivity is always about controlling who profits, especially when the question is posed with the offer for a full buyout of the company.

      Standard grifter bullshit. Remember, this is from a guy who openly states bribes to companies in other countries should be entirely legal. This a group of men getting together trying to figure out how to get their hands on the Congressionally mandated payment for the cure, by owning the company that will provide the US the desperately needed product.

      That's what the exclusive is about. Maximum product volume so every American that gets sick makes money for the very few. Government rent seeking at its finest.

      Considering the people in the room, the complete lack of accountability, checks and balanced experiencing a critical abject failure, and no reason to believe consequences would be on the horizon, you will see Trump, his spawn, and Mar-A-Lago premium members actually owning this company.

       

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    • (Score: 5, Informative) by SpockLogic on Monday March 16 2020, @02:28AM (1 child)

      by SpockLogic (2762) on Monday March 16 2020, @02:28AM (#971761)

      Trump would benefit. He would claim he, and only he, was bigly responsible for single handly saving the entire population of the US. He would claim it gave him an unassailable mandate to be reelected. He needs reelection to the presidency to avoid prosecution, conviction and jailing for the crimes he has committed.

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      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2020, @09:34AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday March 17 2020, @09:34AM (#972124)

        Who needs elections when we can have a trumpator for life?

    • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Tuesday March 17 2020, @10:44PM

      by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Tuesday March 17 2020, @10:44PM (#972517) Journal
      The German government has confirmed the story and is royally pissed off. So fuck off, Trumpster.
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    • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Tuesday March 17 2020, @11:04PM (2 children)

      by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Tuesday March 17 2020, @11:04PM (#972528) Journal

      or gouged into oblivion for a viable treatment

      Of course he wants to reserve that right to gouge people into oblivion for the US for-profit health-care providers.

      The US official denied it, the German government confirmed it and took action by providing $40 million Euros to the company to further research and give them a say in it. Both the German government and the company have rejected Trump's offer, saying they want the company to stay in Germany.

      Also, under eminent domain, the Germans can prevent any sale outside the country. The US has interfered in foreign companies such as Huawei, the Germans will not hesitate to do the same.

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      • (Score: 1) by RandomFactor on Thursday March 19 2020, @12:11AM (1 child)

        by RandomFactor (3682) Subscriber Badge on Thursday March 19 2020, @12:11AM (#972983) Journal

        To make it clear again on coronavirus: CureVac has not received from the US government or related entities an offer before, during and since the Task Force meeting in the White House on March 2. CureVac rejects all allegations from press.
          -- @CureVacAG

        https://twitter.com/CureVacAG/status/1239535638359281664 [twitter.com]
         
        Untruths are told in all denominations of politics. By politicians, by the press, and by partisans. People automatically accept things that reinforce their world view uncritically.
         
        Best to guard against that.

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        • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Thursday March 19 2020, @03:26PM

          by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Thursday March 19 2020, @03:26PM (#973195) Journal

          Just like there was no formal offer made to Denmark to buy Greenland - but Trump did that too, and was royally pissed off at being rebuffed. He thinks everything is for sale, since he himself is. No whore like an old whore.

          Keep defending your idiot-n-chief. On the weekend COVID-19 was still not a problem, numbers dropping, going away soon, the stock market is doing great, etc. By Tuesday the story was 180 degrees different, and he was claiming that he always knew that it was going to be very very serious, etc.

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  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday March 16 2020, @01:48AM (2 children)

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday March 16 2020, @01:48AM (#971749)

    It would restore the US to the only industrial superpower again.

    I think you're overestimating the potential effects here, by a wiiiiiide margin.

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    • (Score: 2) by barbara hudson on Tuesday March 17 2020, @10:48PM (1 child)

      by barbara hudson (6443) <barbara.Jane.hudson@icloud.com> on Tuesday March 17 2020, @10:48PM (#972518) Journal
      Really? Viruses mutate. Just look at the flu. How many different vaccines are there every year?

      And COVID19 doesn't cause symptoms until more than 5 days after a person can transmit it to others, unlike the flu, chicken pox, measles, etc. Good luck stopping it permanently. It will become enemic, like the flu.

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      • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Tuesday March 17 2020, @11:01PM

        by JoeMerchant (3937) on Tuesday March 17 2020, @11:01PM (#972526)

        To quote BSG: all of this has happened before, and will happen again.

        We're in more existential threat from the rise of AI than we are in any kind of position to differentially impact the world economic balance of power by possession of a few vaccine technologies a few years before the other countries manage to replicate them.

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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by DannyB on Monday March 16 2020, @02:22PM

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Monday March 16 2020, @02:22PM (#971879) Journal

    It would restore the US to the only industrial superpower again.

    Maybe the other 96 % of the world's population might decide that they should all get it first before the United States gets it.

    (before someone says [citation needed], google for "world population", google for "US population" use this sophisticated mathematical technique called division.)

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