Why don't we have more vaccines?

A lot of informed speculation, but we could use clear answers

(Sven Hoppe/Getty Images)

Hey guys. Today, after many long months of closure plus a surprise day off yesterday for the snow, my kid is finally back in school for in-person kindergarten. I’m a little nervous, but fundamentally it feels good.

But of course, what I really want is for myself and my wife and all of our friends and family to get vaccinated, which raises a simple and somewhat underplayed question: Why aren’t we making way more vaccine doses?

Nobody is asking the most obvious question

Of course, we know that the reason Pfizer and Moderna aren’t making more is that they “can’t.” In other words, it’s not like they’re just forgetting to run the assembly line or something.

But you can search The New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, FT, Stat, Politico, Axios, or whatever else you like in vain for a detailed, specific explanation of why they can’t make more. Or in other words, you won’t see a detailed, specific explanation of what would have to be the case for it to be…