Operation Warp Speed produced a new vaccine for a novel virus in record time but when Operation Warp Speed was disbanded by the Biden administration vaccine research and development slowed from warp speed to impulse power. It’s ridiculous that it is taking longer to develop and deploy tweaks to the mRNA vaccines to deal with new variants than it took to develop the original vaccines from scratch. By the time we get an Omicron-specific vaccine that variant will have disappeared. This is no way to run a civilization.
See also, Patrick Collison at Slow Burning
A pair of Texas researchers had been working on a SARS vaccine when it petered out. SARS virus is similar to Covid. They tried to interest government officials, but they weren’t interested in a proven technology that had been used safely for decades. Their vaccine was ultimately created and is being used in India. It can be manufactured for $1 to $1.50 a dose. https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/01/05/1070046189/a-texas-team-comes-up-with-a-covid-vaccine-that-could-be-a-global-game-changer