Page 16 - South China Business Journal
P. 16
C. TODAY
By JOHN G. MURPHY • Noubar Afeyan, co-founder of Moderna,
U. S. Chamber of Commerce emigrated with his parents from Lebanon to
Canada as a teenager. Moderna’s CEO is Stéphane
Amid a pandemic that has taken nearly 1.5 million Bancel, who immigrated to the United States from
lives worldwide, there’s light at the end of the France.
tunnel: The imminent introduction of two COVID-19 • Moncef Slaoui, the scientist who heads
vaccines, with more in the pipeline. the U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed
With government approval expected soon, the first initiative, emigrated from Morocco to Belgium at
people will receive the vaccines produced by Pfizer the age of 17 and eventually came to the United
and its German partner BioNTech and, separately, States.
Moderna within weeks. A third vaccine, developed by The role of immigrants in innovation is nothing
AstraZeneca and Oxford University, may not be far new. Increasing the share of college-educated
behind. immigrants in the population by 1% increases
These vaccines were produced in record time— patents per capita by 6%—a common proxy for
beating all but the most optimistic of forecasts. How innovation—according to one widely-cited study.
did this modern miracle of science come about? Nor is the innovation that immigrants bring
limited to the college educated.
How Trade, Vaccine Inputs Sourced and Manufactured
Immigration, and Around the World
Global Supply Chains Like immigration, international trade and
global supply chains are critical to the successful
Will Defeat the manufacture of vaccines. Pfizer and BioNTech
Pandemic are producing their vaccine at multiple locations
in the United States and abroad, including in
The answer is complex but also simple: Scientists, Germany, Belgium, Algeria, Egypt, China, Turkey,
industry, and governments collaborated in an Ireland, and Singapore, according to a summary
international race against the clock, often with by the Cato Institute’s Scott Lincicome. Moderna
immigrant innovators at the fore, powered by trade is manufacturing its vaccine in the United States,
networks and supply chains that span the globe. Switzerland, and Spain.
Role of Immigrants in Vaccine Development Key inputs come from all around the globe. The
Immigrants or children of immigrants played active elements in both vaccines are encapsulated
key roles in producing all three leading vaccine in “lipid nanoparticles” that Pfizer and BioNTech
candidates, illustrating how immigrants have long obtain from Acuitas, a specialist Canadian
boosted innovative industries. To summarize from company, reports the Financial Times.
Stewart Anderson (here) and Ilya Somin (here): Many vaccines depend on adjuvants, a secondary
• Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci, the husband chemical that acts alongside the vaccine to provoke
and wife team that founded BioNTech, are children the right kind of immune response and ensure
of Turkish immigrants who came to Germany as the immune system “remembers” it. The active
guest-workers. Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla is a Greek ingredient in one widely-used adjuvant “comes
veterinarian who joined the firm in 1983 and rose from the soapbark tree, which grows in the
over the years to senior roles. mountains of Chile,” reports Bloomberg.
But alternatives are being developed: The
California-based biotech firm Amyris has been
testing an adjuvant produced by fermenting raw
sugarcane in Brazil and then processing that
product in American factories. The company has
committed to deliver 10 tons of its product by the
end of the year, Bloomberg adds.
Vials to carry the vaccine must be produced in
13 AMCHAM SOUTH CHINA
By JOHN G. MURPHY • Noubar Afeyan, co-founder of Moderna,
U. S. Chamber of Commerce emigrated with his parents from Lebanon to
Canada as a teenager. Moderna’s CEO is Stéphane
Amid a pandemic that has taken nearly 1.5 million Bancel, who immigrated to the United States from
lives worldwide, there’s light at the end of the France.
tunnel: The imminent introduction of two COVID-19 • Moncef Slaoui, the scientist who heads
vaccines, with more in the pipeline. the U.S. government’s Operation Warp Speed
With government approval expected soon, the first initiative, emigrated from Morocco to Belgium at
people will receive the vaccines produced by Pfizer the age of 17 and eventually came to the United
and its German partner BioNTech and, separately, States.
Moderna within weeks. A third vaccine, developed by The role of immigrants in innovation is nothing
AstraZeneca and Oxford University, may not be far new. Increasing the share of college-educated
behind. immigrants in the population by 1% increases
These vaccines were produced in record time— patents per capita by 6%—a common proxy for
beating all but the most optimistic of forecasts. How innovation—according to one widely-cited study.
did this modern miracle of science come about? Nor is the innovation that immigrants bring
limited to the college educated.
How Trade, Vaccine Inputs Sourced and Manufactured
Immigration, and Around the World
Global Supply Chains Like immigration, international trade and
global supply chains are critical to the successful
Will Defeat the manufacture of vaccines. Pfizer and BioNTech
Pandemic are producing their vaccine at multiple locations
in the United States and abroad, including in
The answer is complex but also simple: Scientists, Germany, Belgium, Algeria, Egypt, China, Turkey,
industry, and governments collaborated in an Ireland, and Singapore, according to a summary
international race against the clock, often with by the Cato Institute’s Scott Lincicome. Moderna
immigrant innovators at the fore, powered by trade is manufacturing its vaccine in the United States,
networks and supply chains that span the globe. Switzerland, and Spain.
Role of Immigrants in Vaccine Development Key inputs come from all around the globe. The
Immigrants or children of immigrants played active elements in both vaccines are encapsulated
key roles in producing all three leading vaccine in “lipid nanoparticles” that Pfizer and BioNTech
candidates, illustrating how immigrants have long obtain from Acuitas, a specialist Canadian
boosted innovative industries. To summarize from company, reports the Financial Times.
Stewart Anderson (here) and Ilya Somin (here): Many vaccines depend on adjuvants, a secondary
• Ugur Sahin and Ozlem Tureci, the husband chemical that acts alongside the vaccine to provoke
and wife team that founded BioNTech, are children the right kind of immune response and ensure
of Turkish immigrants who came to Germany as the immune system “remembers” it. The active
guest-workers. Pfizer’s CEO Albert Bourla is a Greek ingredient in one widely-used adjuvant “comes
veterinarian who joined the firm in 1983 and rose from the soapbark tree, which grows in the
over the years to senior roles. mountains of Chile,” reports Bloomberg.
But alternatives are being developed: The
California-based biotech firm Amyris has been
testing an adjuvant produced by fermenting raw
sugarcane in Brazil and then processing that
product in American factories. The company has
committed to deliver 10 tons of its product by the
end of the year, Bloomberg adds.
Vials to carry the vaccine must be produced in
13 AMCHAM SOUTH CHINA
