I recently finished an excellent book, The Code Breaker, which covers the discoveries that led to gene editing and more. Towards the end of that book, the author discusses how that science was used to build tools and techniques for COVID-19 testing. (There is also a section on the mRNA that is used in several of the vaccines.)
Several labs were working in haste on COVID tests when the CDC declared a health emergency. That meant that the tests the labs had come up with couldn’t be used without FDA and CDC approval. It was a major problem as the CDC’s own tests didn’t work properly.
One lab tried to get regulatory approval but was confounded by a mountain of red tape. They had to fill in page after page of detailed forms. Then they were told they would have to do more tests using material that the FDA wouldn’t grant them permission to obtain.
It took intervention by Dr. Fauci to get their and then other labs’ tests approved.
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In my books, I share a couple of real-life incidents where excess red tape hindered the business. In one, the CEO mandated that he had to approve every request for capital expenditures. As a direct result, a modest request to spend $10,000 to reap many times that reward was delayed until after the opportunity had passed. In the other, the Legal team performed the same review on…
