Page 20 - Issue 18

Coronavirus Has Proven the

'Free Market' Illusion Wrong

haaretz.com

The pandemic revealed the world's total
dependence upon public financing and
should finally explode the myth that the
less a government 'interferes,' the better

By Guy Rolnik
Dec 31, 2020

Hundreds of planes, trucks and trains are now racing all
over the world, carrying billions of ampoules and vials of
coronavirus vaccines – from Pfizer and Moderna, and soon
from AstraZeneca and other companies. Barring any nasty
surprises, this moment will go down in history as a
tremendous victory for science. Less than a year since a
mysterious virus appeared and began sowing death and
destruction, along with worldwide economic ruin,
unprecedented collaborations by scientists from around
the world are yielding an innovative solution to halt the
pandemic, with technology that seems straight out of a
science fiction movie.

In the thousands of news reports in the two months since
the results of the Pfizer and Moderna trials were
announced, much has been written about the companies
involved in the vaccine development – Pfizer, BioNTech,