I fairness the US, UK and EU all gave Billions to vaccine researchers and makers well in advance of any products being approved to try an accelerate the design, development, testing and manufacturing processes and it has all been done faster than ever before. The mRNA vaccines are, as you say, entirely a new concept and there was uncertainty whether they would ever work.

Vaccine production has long been a relatively unprofitable backwater for big pharma with some pulling out of the business altogether and none of the really big vaccine players have yet produced an approved vaccine. There is a fundamental contradiction between profit led R&D and common good prioritised R&D which needs to be addressed urgently.

Index of Frank's Diaries