If we were a reasonable country, we'd have a research arm of the FDA that was employing scientists/chemists to develop drugs for the most basic health needs of its citizens and dispensing them at cost to keep drugs affordable but developing cures versus disease maintenance drugs. It was something that Elizabeth Warren proposed in 2016 that was absolutely the right thing to run on.
But we live in a hellish American landscape where our government does absolutely the bare minimum amount of support for those in need. And does so begrudgingly.
For vaccines, we shouldn't even be dispensing them at cost. Vaccinations are the second most cost effective public health intervention ever, beaten only by clean drinking water.
In purely financial terms, the cost of vaccinations are lower than the average cost to the US tax payer of someone getting sick. The public service of people not getting sick is a nice bonus. As is reducing the chances of this becoming another Covid style economic catastrophe (plus, again, the public service of protecting your citizens)
I am not sure you are aware of the immense costs to develop new drugs for diseases. At least that's what your comment sounds like, making new drugs. To do that as a state entity is completely unrealistic as it would take a massive investment from the government. Most drugs developed also fail at some stage of the process, meaning you lost all that money and work on it.
Now, if you meant that the government should produce already established basic drugs that are known to work, sell those at cost, yes, that would be a very sensible approach.
Totally willing to help the very needy...pharma bros get a piece of that sweet, sweet government pie. Why let government do anything when outsourcing to private capital helps me buy my yach...er...feed my kids.
Better idea let's not feed cows any type of poop. Bird flu is coming from feeding cows bird droppings for protein. Let's find some other way to give them protein.
200 million is a pittance today. Vaccines are generally more effective than pills outside of antibiotics. But more importantly the USDA should be requiring more animal vaccinations and there should be more investment in vaccinating livestock if we're going to continue to eat mammals and birds
Factory farming is a huge problem when it comes to influenza and other diseases spreading and mutating. It certainly doesn't help that farmers are often not given protective equipment like gloves and masks, but even without that, factory farming animals is a huge problem when it comes to the spread of disease.
In this case, it's farming chickens and turkeys (along with other less common birds) that is the problem with influenza in general since it usually begins in bird populations, but it's already spread to cattle farms.