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Comment by swayvil | Hacker News Reader

Pfizer's reaping 33billion on vax alone this year. Three guesses where that money comes from.

Isn't that supposed to be how capitalism funds and incentivizes R&D though? There is market demand for a Thing, if you can figure out how to make Things then the market will reward that with profit.

Honestly, for being the firm to develop a vaccine for a global pandemic, $33B in revenue sounds a little light? Apple made 83B in revenue just in Q3 alone and all they do is make phones that aren't even improving that much year-over-year.

Capitalism is about a free market, not collusion with the government to force vaccines on citizens.

Capitalism is about allowing ownership of property and profit from labor. Markets work best when there are a range of restrictions and taxes for services and subsidies that tune outcomes. Universal access to education, for example, is extremely expensive, but the benefits that come with having a literate society make the investment worthwhile.

Er, so? They developed and are producing a vaccine that will save millions of lives. That's a damn sight more deserving of billions in profit than any other number of industries or corporations.

Saying they're free is certainly misleading.

I mean, I pay nothing for mine. I already pay tax to fund our health service, which purchases many drugs from many vendors for many diseases. This is just one more, and by all accounts it's comparatively cheap for the overall cost-savings when it keeps the vast majority of people out of the hospitals.

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