What’s In Your Pockets? – AGE OF AUTISM
Most of us at AofA are aware of the overwhelming cost of supporting a loved one with autism for families. The lack of government response and support for two or more decades has been disheartening and heartbreaking. No unemployment benefits for us when we quit our full-time job to stay home. No forgivable loans to bridge us … until what? No rental break to have a roof over your head. Nothing. Yesterday, the Sunday Times tasked Covid vaccine maker executives to hike prices and pay a king’s ransom as the global economy tumbled under the effects of the lockdowns. We excerpted the following article – it’s behind a paywall. At what point will Americans, Europeans, global citizens open their eyes and understand that there is NO altruism in the war economy? WAR MAKES MONEY. In this war, it’s not GM and Goodyear. In this war, it’s not Grumman and Lockheed Martin. It is pharmaceutical companies fighting the virus. ALL WITHOUT LIABILITY. Blaxill and everyone published an article on the societal costs of autism last month:
Blaxill, M., Rogers, T. & Nevison, C. Autism Tsunami: The Impact of Rising Prevalence on the Societal Cost of Autism in the United States. J Autism Dev Disord (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05120-7
abstract
The cost of ASD in the United States is estimated using a forecasting model that, for the first time, takes into account the true historical increase in ASD. Model inputs include ASD prevalence, census projections, six cost categories, ten age groups, inflation projections, and three future prevalence scenarios. Future ASD costs will increase dramatically: total costs for the base case are estimated to be USD 223 (175–271) billion / year in 2020; $ 589 billion / year in 2030, $ 1.36 trillion / year in 2040, and $ 5.54 trillion / year in 2060, with considerable savings potential through ASD prevention. The rising prevalence, the shift from child to adult costs, the transfer of costs from parents to the state and rising total costs raise pressing political questions and require an urgent focus on prevention strategies. Read here: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10803-021-05120-7
Operation Warp Speed provided more than $ 18 billion to fund Covid vaccine development. The Lancet: Operation Warp Speed: Impact on Global Vaccine Safety The following article sounds like companies have to dig into their children’s piggy banks to make the products.
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Sabah meditations
Saturday, August 14, 2021, 6:00 p.m., The Sunday Times
mThe chairman of oderna does not apologize for the price of his Covid vaccine. Like Pfizer, its American competitor and rival, the Boston-based biotech has raised the price of its vaccinations as countries battle to order booster shots for the next year. “That mRNA wasn’t an academic science that we could suddenly use to make a vaccine,” said Noubar Afeyan, referring to the underlying technology. “There has been ten years, over $ 2 billion in investment, and hundreds of scientists working for many years to make all of this possible.”
… Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, is one of the leading figures in the fight against Covid. Bourla, 59, received $ 21 million (£ 15.2 million) last year and drew attention in November after selling $ 5.6 million of shares on the same day the Drug maker announced that its Covid vaccine is more than 90 percent effective at protecting people from transmitting the virus.
… Earlier this year, Pfizer paid National Geographic TV to produce a brilliant documentary, Mission Possible: The Race for a Vaccine, which included interviews with the company’s scientists and its managing director Albert Bourla, 59. He stated that he had told the scientists there was an “open checkbook, no questions asked”.
Staff were told to start making the vaccine before they knew it was working, he said.
“Do everything at once and see if it works,” he explained. “If not, it’s just money.”
