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1. Vaccinating America

Author:
Committee for Economic Development of the Conference Board
Publication Date:
04-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Conference Board
Abstract:
In December 2020, one year after the COVID-19 virus had been reported in China, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) granted emergency use authorization in back-to-back announcements for the Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna/NIAID vaccines. This was by far the fastest vaccine development in history. A typical vaccine took 10 years to develop, with the most rapid previous development being the four years it had taken for the mumps vaccine in 1967.1 And these two vaccines were of a new type, utilizing messenger RNA (mRNA). While mRNA had been studied for years, the unique spike protein of the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 provided a first opportunity to respond with an mRNA vaccine.2 The ensuing technological and scientific success could not have been accomplished without the collaboration of the private and public sectors. The distribution of the vaccine nationally could not have been accomplished without the major delivery companies stepping up to meet the challenges of on-time distribution of the vaccines, which required very cold storage. The research, development, and nationwide distribution of the vaccines has evoked comparisons to the private-public sector collaboration during WWII that led to the Manhattan Project’s rapid and dramatic scientific breakthroughs.3 After death tolls climbed into the hundreds of thousands, the vaccine announcements provided hope that there may be light at the end of the very dark COVID-19 tunnel. By the end of May, the United States is expected to have sufficient vaccine supply for the entire adult American population. But the challenge to manufacture, distribute, and administer the vaccinations quickly, efficiently, and fairly, in a race against continued infection and the emergence of variants of the virus here and all around the world, requires continued collaboration between the public and private sectors. The US and the world must win that race between vaccination and mutation to achieve “herd immunity” and return to normality in daily life and the economy. The stakes are high for both the current crisis and the inevitable pandemics of the future. For this reason, the following analysis offers a diagnosis of the current episode, and recommendations for today and tomorrow.
Topic:
Public Health, Vaccine, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

2. Containing the Pandemic Public Debt

Author:
Committee for Economic Development of the Conference Board
Publication Date:
05-2021
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Conference Board
Abstract:
In early 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic presented the entire world with its worst public health threat in at least a century. The precise seriousness of the pandemic, of course, could not be known at the outset; and in fact, the pandemic is not yet vanquished as this statement is written. The extent of the damage the virus and its mutations will ultimately cause is not yet fully known. But the near-miraculous efforts to develop vaccines, contain the infection, and treat the infected provide much-needed hope that a return to “normal” is not out of reach. The pandemic had economic consequences as well. And like the public health impact, the shock to the economy was large but impossible to assess accurately at its outset. And like the damage to public health, the economic fallout is still impossible to assess today with complete accuracy. For the first time in 100 years, stay-at-home orders to protect the public health spurred an economic downturn and dramatic job losses—leaving a wide swath of businesses in hospitality, travel, leisure, dining, and retail nearly shut down, with entire occupations, such as personal service workers, facing extended layoffs or even permanent job loss. The fates of these businesses and workers are unpredictable, depending on the uncertain course of the pandemic itself. Another similarity between the public health and the economic threats is that prudent public policy required strong and immediate responses. With the ultimate extent of the damage unknown but potentially catastrophic, executive and congressional policymakers deemed it essential that government react swiftly and robustly. Policymakers and commentators repeated often that the nation should err on the side of action—that it would be better to do too much rather than too little.
Topic:
Debt, Economy, Public Health, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

3. US Health Care in the Pandemic

Author:
Committee for Economic Development of the Conference Board
Publication Date:
07-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Conference Board
Abstract:
Within a few short weeks in early spring, the COVID-19 pandemic began to unleash its devastation on the health and economic well-being of the American public. With this attack, it challenged the structure and basic foundations of the US health care system. In response to the growing deluge, US health care workers, public health officials, and health care industry leaders were the front line of defense against the virus. The whole country witnessed their extraordinary courage, fortitude, and rapid and unyielding response. A government stagnated by partisan politics joined to swiftly pass unprecedented relief and support legislation, waive regulation, and launch a historic, large-scale vaccine and treatment development effort in collaboration with the private sector. The US health care system has not collapsed. But as the US emerged from the initial weeks of the swift, unprecedented, and devastating destruction of the COVID-19 global pandemic, several significant shortfalls in the health care system became clear: the ability of the structure of the system to handle the challenge; the nation’s preparedness when the pandemic began; and finally, how the system has performed given the resources we have on hand. These three problems could be restated as: How should the nation change the fundamental structure of the health care system? What should we do now to respond to the current pandemic? And what should we do, once the smoke clears, to prepare for future pandemics?
Topic:
Health, Public Health, Pandemic, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

4. Coronavirus Policy Under a Biden Administration

Author:
Committee for Economic Development of the Conference Board
Publication Date:
11-2020
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
The Conference Board
Abstract:
now appears almost certain that former Vice President Joe Biden will assume the office of President on January 20 of next year. The President-elect today announced the membership of a new thirteenmember advisory board of non-governmental experts to develop recommendations so that they can be implemented by his new Administration, further emphasizing that this is the priority focus of his transition. This memo, covering the handling of the coronavirus pandemic, is the first in a series of short pieces to explain what you can expect from the new Administration. Candidate Biden’s campaign laid out in considerable detail a five-point program (counting the number of major headings in the document; some news outlets specified six) for how he would attack the pandemic, which was claimed to be sharply different from the practices under the Trump Administration. President-elect Biden yesterday stood up his new transition website, with what is now characterized as a seven-point plan, which is shorter (a little more than one-seventh the word count) and less-detailed than the campaign document. And the President-elect today announced the membership of a new thirteen-member advisory board of non-governmental experts to develop these recommendations so that they can be implemented by his new Administration.
Topic:
Health Care Policy, Elections, Public Health, COVID-19, and Joe Biden
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America

5. First Hundred Days Plan

Author:
Committee for Economic Development of the Conference Board
Publication Date:
12-2020
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
The Conference Board
Abstract:
The Committee for Economic Development of The Conference Board prepared the following analysis and recommendations in the spirit of our founding members, America’s foremost business leaders during World War II, who came together to solve our nation’s crucial postwar economic and social challenges. Similarly, business leaders today, hand-in-hand with policymakers and the American public, must provide a thoughtful response to the COVID-19 crisis and restore confidence in capitalism and our democratic institutions. CED respectfully offers its nonpartisan analysis and recommendations for the first 100 days of the new administration to build a stronger, more resilient, and more responsive economy that provides opportunity and prosperity for all Americans. The objective is to overcome the public health challenge, safely reopen the economy, and get our nation on a path to high levels of employment, production, and consumption—to put our country back to work safely, making capitalism benefit all Americans.
Topic:
Employment, Capitalism, Economy, Public Health, and COVID-19
Political Geography:
North America and United States of America