Coronavirus cases, hospitalizations, and deaths are all skyrocketing around the United States, with the situation certainly being made worse by the recent Thanksgiving holiday. The grim reality of the next several months may be a trauma unlike any we have faced as a nation in generations, and whose ripple effects we will feel for many years. Despite this panoply of bad news, there remains some hope on the horizon with the advent of several Covid-19 vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca. Even if everything goes right, however, from here on out, it will be months before the vaccine is widely distributed.
Many politicians, Trump included, will spend their time arguing who exactly deserves the credit for the amazing accomplishment of producing a vaccine in such a short time span. In a crude way this makes sense, but ultimately it will be the manner and efficiency of distribution of the vaccine that determine its value. To his credit, Joe Biden’s campaign has promised that the vaccine will be given out cost free, in accordance with what 72% of the American people want. This is a good emergency action, but we shouldn't mistake ongoing crisis of Covid-19 as a separate entity from the larger healthcare catastrophe we have been experiencing for many years. This pandemic merely exposes in stark relief, all the failure points of our current system, and has helped calrify for many Americans the things that need to change:
Support Ending the Patent of High Cost Drugs:
Support: 68%
Oppose: 17%
Allow Medicare to Negotiate the Cost of Prescription Drugs:
Support: 65%
Oppose: 19%
Allow Government to Manufacture Generic Alternatives to Prescription Drugs
Support:66%
Oppose: 20%
As we can see there is a large appetite for government action around healthcare options that extend beyond Covid-19. There are a variety of different mechanisms that the government can use in order to attempt to address a health care system, that in its commodification, has become inherently predatory. In the long run, we will see much greater economic prosperity, much better health outcomes, and perhaps even a representative democracy as we decommodify our healthcare system, in line with American’s desires.
So let's make sure that we are organized and ready for action, because it is clear that the Joe Biden administration, while they might talk a good game about big change, is looking in its appointments, more and more like a 3rd Obama administration. Thus, we can't expect the Democrats to take action on their own. Instead, for us to get any sort of progress on health care beyond the band-aid of a free covid-19 vaccine, we’re going to need to organize economically and politically, aligning our power in order to shift the elites who rule this country, and care for nothing but money. Join us every Tuesday in growing solidarity as we fight the powers of division and oligarchs who threaten to undermine our democracy. Don't Shop on Tuesdays!
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