Nearly a week after Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine began being used in Great Britain, the vaccine will start being used in America today. The delay was caused because Pfizer had to obtain approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before it could release the vaccine. In the meantime, an unknown number of Americans died from the virus.
Many believe that the FDA’s approval process is justified in order to protect “the public.” But reputable companies like Pfizer will rigorously test their products before making them available. Indeed, in September the company released its trial protocol in order to address concerns that political pressure might tempt the company to release the vaccine before the November election.
A rational company will test its products to ensure safety and efficaciousness. It doesn’t need the FDA mandating trial protocols or evaluating the data. It is in the company’s self-interest to follow recognized procedures and make the data available to medical experts. Without the burdensome approval process imposed by the FDA, Pfizer could and would have acted as it deemed best.
For example, when the early data showed that the vaccine was safe and side effects were minimal, Pfizer might have decided to release the vaccine on a large scale. Instead of a clinical trial involving tens of thousands, it could have had a trial with millions of participants. It would have obtained more data more quickly. And in the meantime, millions of Americans would have been protected from COVID-19. Lives would have been saved.
Pfizer may not have made such a decision. But the fact is, it wasn’t free to do so. It wasn’t free to produce and trade as it deemed best. And when businesses aren’t free to produce and trade, we are deprived of products that might save our lives.