Building Wealth Captain Kirk isn't showing up to save us anytime soon...
The federal government initiated Operation Warp Speed in May to accelerate the development, manufacturing, and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines – all while still doing it safely. The government wants to deliver 300 million doses of effective vaccines by January.
It's an ambitious goal.
The name evokes images of starships like the USS Enterprise from the old TV show Star Trek. And sadly... the idea that we could develop a safe vaccine that fast is every bit as much science fiction...
Vaccines often take years, sometimes decades, to develop, test, and approve for public use. We're trying to do it in a matter of months.
The argument for Operation Warp Speed is that technology is much more advanced today than at any other time in history. Plus, the smartest minds from around the world are working toward the same goal. It's a global crisis after all.
The good news is that tens of millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses are reportedly being created and stored around the U.S. Operation Warp Speed's chief adviser, Dr. Moncef Slaoui, said that biotech giants Moderna and Pfizer may have up to 40 million doses of their vaccines by the end of December.
And as cases have been soaring in recent weeks, folks are getting more worried about a vaccine...
The big problem with Operation Warp Speed is the delivery of the vaccine. There's going to be nothing "warp" about it.
President Donald Trump has previously said that he would use the military to help deliver 200,000 doses a day. That seems like a lot... and it is. That's 73 million doses a year.
Even at that Warp Speed-like pace... it would take more than three years to vaccinate all the adults in the U.S.
Oh, and if you're nervous about the military strolling into your town to deliver the vaccine, don't be. Here's what chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, Gustave Perna, said at a press conference recently...
There will not be this vision that some people have that there'll be Army trucks driving through the streets delivering vaccines. That's not feasible or the right way to do it.
As you know, it's rare that anything works out as planned. I suspect getting a vaccine out to the general public will not go as smoothly as a lot of people are expecting.
A lot can change between now and the end of the year. And don't even try to think about what 2021 will look like, because there are still so many unknowns.
One thing you should plan on is not having a vaccine over the next few weeks.
Chris Cox, senior vice president of CVS Health, said his company will be prepared to begin vaccinating the general public "within the first couple of months of 2021." Even that seems ambitious.
There are two things that will likely not change over the next few months... wearing masks and the need for COVID-19 testing. They're not going anywhere.
And that's especially true with the number of new cases rising. People will continue to wear masks in public places and get tested to make sure they aren't infected. The number of new daily tests in the U.S. is close to 1.4 million.
Of course, at Stansberry Research, our job is to find ideas where you can make money. And Stansberry Research editor Dave Lashmet has recently found a way to profit from our need for fast and convenient testing. (As you may know, the COVID-19 tests that are available now are not very convenient.)
Specifically, he has found a small biotech company that could see its share price rise by 566% if things work out the way Dave thinks they will.
Dave suspects the company could be on the verge of making a major announcement related to COVID-19 testing any day now... it might even be today.
This opportunity is so time sensitive that Dave has thrown together a special webinar to discuss all of the details of this major opportunity.
You can click here to learn more.
What We're Reading...
- Something different: Walmart ends contract with robotics company, opts for human workers instead.
Here's to our health, wealth, and a great retirement,
Dr. David Eifrig and the Health & Wealth Bulletin Research Team
November 4, 2020