Ray Cardello March 4, 2021

We can look to Operation Warp Speed for some good news mixed in amongst all of the disheartening news that we are being blasted with daily. I am a news junkie but even for me, the pace of the news in 2021 is frenetic and most of it is alarming. It really makes you question where we are headed and if there is a way to recover from all of the bad decisions being made in every sector of our lives.

As of today, thanks to Operation Warp Speed, we have three companies approved by the FDA to manufacture and distribute COVID-19 Vaccines to every American and the world. By government getting out of the way of Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson we were able to have effective vaccines approved and available in 8 months as opposed to the three to five years that it would normally take to get a vaccine to market. This is the Miracle of the Pandemic and we owe a big thank you to President Trump for initiating Operation Warp Speed. It is the free market and not government that is putting vaccines into American arms. Let Biden and his twisted version of reality try to steal the thunder but the truth will prevail….Capitalism at its best was at the core of the Operation. And the story gets even better. Big Pharma is always a target of those who profess socialized medicine but just today Merck has entered the battle by teaming with J&J to help produce J&J’s vaccine, the only single shot version now available, which will boost production capabilities so that we can get over 300 million people vaccinated and the US on its way to putting this Pandemic in the history books. The J&J vaccine also does not require the deep freeze temps for storage that the Pfizer and Moderna versions do which opens up far more facilities to speed the injection process. All of this will bring us to the Herd Immunity level we need to be able to resume our normal lives without masks and social distance. It will allow us to bring back the hug, handshake and visits with family. This past year has felt like a lifetime for most of us. Unlike our parents and grandparents, we did not have to live through the Depression and World War II. This was our first big challenge and we probably get a C- grade for our efforts. That grade is brought down by a combination of poor leadership and a selfish attitude that made the effort of sacrifice a far more difficult task than it needed to be. That mediocre grade may just be enough….enough to get us across the line. We have had far too many deaths. We have all suffered emotionally and economically but we will recover. We will recover just the way we should; as part of a Team, the American Team. We again have shown that no challenge is too great for this tough bunch. Soon, we can put our masks in the back of the drawer where they belong. Right there with Mood Rings and Pet Rocks…..never to be brought out again……Thank God.