I was a\u00a0Star Trek\u00a0<\/em>guy, a Trekkie, from the very beginning.\u00a0\u00a0I watched the first airing of\u00a0Star Trek\u00a0<\/em>as a ten year old\u00a0<\/em>in September 1966.\u00a0\u00a0The memory is distinct, not so much for the show, but because a car hit our dog Louie in front of the house just as the credits were rolling.\u00a0\u00a0Louie didn\u2019t make it, but I still watched more\u00a0Trek,\u00a0<\/em>all of the originals, most of the\u00a0Next Generation,\u00a0<\/em>some of\u00a0Deep Space Nine,\u00a0<\/em>a few\u00a0Voyagers,\u00a0<\/em>and on and on.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n What I missed the first time around I caught on re-runs, from Captain Kirk\u2019s first interracial kiss with Lieutenant Uhura (a bad Olympian God made him do it) to giving up the woman he loved for the universe in The City on the Edge of Forever. <\/em>I am a Trekkie \u2013 I\u2019ve watched the movies, and I watched the new series, Star Trek Discovery, <\/em>yesterday afternoon. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But it was the original Trek <\/em>that gave us most of the famous lines. \u201cMore Power Mr. Scott\u201d, \u201cI\u2019m a Doctor, not a bricklayer\u201d, \u201cCaptain, the engines can\u2019t take it any longer\u201d, \u201cLive Long and Prosper\u201d, and the ubiquitous \u201cBeam me up Scottie\u201d. It was the original authors who came up with the \u201cmagic\u201d engine drive that pushed Starships across the Universe. Zefram Cochrane developed the \u201cWarp Engine\u201d out of the ashes of World War III. Cochrane was born in the not so distant future, sometime in the 2030\u2019s. His \u201cWarp Drive\u201d that could bend space, allowed vehicles to shortcut through \u201csubspace\u201d to a far location. <\/p>\n\n\n\n How did Cochrane do it? He discovered that some left over nuclear weapons could be used to make plasma to inject into a \u201cWarp Drive Core\u201d. Later, they found that dilithium crystals could do the job more efficiently. And one of the great dangers on the original Enterprise <\/em>was degradation of the dilithium crystals: no crystals, no Warp drive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n OK, enough about Star Trek. <\/em>But it\u2019s not my fault. I blame it on President Trump.<\/p>\n\n\n\n After all, he named the mission to create a vaccine for COVID-19 \u201cOperation Warp Speed\u201d. There is no other \u201cWarp Speed\u201d but from Star Trek, <\/em>so when Trump starting using Trekkie language, it\u2019s \u201copen season\u201d on using Trek <\/em>analogies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And, credit where credit is due, the first half of \u201cOperation Warp Speed\u201d worked. The historic long-term five to ten year process of vaccine development was condensed to less than ten months. (It should be noted that scientists did get a \u201chead start\u201d, working with corona viruses, though not COVID-19, for years). <\/em> The Pfizer Company chose not to participate in the development phase of \u201cOperation Warp Speed\u201d and developed the vaccine themselves. But others: Moderna, Johnson and Johnson, Astra-Zeneca all did get funding and help from \u201cWarp Speed\u201d. Two vaccines are up and running, two others are just weeks from approval. <\/p>\n\n\n\n But having a vaccine doesn\u2019t mean a thing if it doesn\u2019t get in people\u2019s arms.\u00a0\u00a0There is a famous story about the early days of penicillin.\u00a0\u00a0As World War II began, if both Churchill and Roosevelt needed the drug, there wasn\u2019t enough available to save them both.\u00a0\u00a0Making the drug is one thing, getting it out to the public is quite another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And what does that mean? In the United States there are near 330 million people. \u201cHerd immunity\u201d from COVID-19 is the point when most Americans won\u2019t be at risk from the disease. It requires around eighty percent, or 264 million Americans to either be vaccinated, or have immunity because they contracted COVID. Right now, more than 20 million Americans have been diagnosed with COVID, so we need 220 million Americans to get the vaccine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cOperation Warp Speed\u201d \u2013 the Trump plan, set a target of 20 million Americans vaccinated by January 1st<\/sup>. Here on December 31st<\/sup>, about 2.5 million have actually received the first shot (of two). We aren\u2019t at \u201cWarp Speed\u201d; in Trekkie terms we are operating on \u201cimpulse power\u201d only, or maybe just on \u201cmaneuvering thrusters\u201d. At the rate were going, we won\u2019t get to \u201cherd immunity\u201d until 2030, about the time Zefram Cochrane is supposed to be born.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What is the problem? The \u201cmodel\u201d that President Trump used to disseminate the vaccine, is the same one used throughout the COVID crisis. His idea is that the Federal Government may supply the materials: the tests, the protective gear, and suggestions on how to stop the spread. But it\u2019s up to the state and local governments to put all of those into effect. <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are two reasons for this.\u00a0\u00a0First, it places the responsibility for the hard decisions, like closing businesses and schools and locking down residents, on local authorities. And that works for the President politically.\u00a0\u00a0He\u2019s the big supplier without being the \u201cbad guy\u201d.\u00a0\u00a0When it\u2019s to his advantage, he attacked the state and local leaders required to make tough choices.\u00a0\u00a0And second, it pushed a lot of the costs from the Federal Government onto the State and Local governments.\u00a0\u00a0Trump didn\u2019t get stuck with the bill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So \u201cOperation Warp Speed\u201d is producing a lot of vaccine. Those vials are getting on trucks, and headed out to the states. And that\u2019s where they stop. State and Local Departments of Health are already incredibly overburdened with testing and tracing. And those same agencies are being attacked both by politicians and civilians because of the health restrictions they recommend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now add to that the need to prioritize, organize, and optimize vaccinations. It\u2019s no surprise that they are failing, like a dilithium crystal left in the warp core chamber far too long. It\u2019s like the Starship Enterprise with a cadet crew (isn\u2019t that the theme of the movie, The Wrath of Khan?). <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\nThe Original<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Appropriation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Herd Immunity<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
The Process<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Where No Vaccine Has Gone Before<\/h3>\n\n\n\n