Here we go again:
As part of its strategy to administer the vaccine as quickly as possible, the Trump administration has agreed to invest more than half a billion in tax dollars in ApiJect Systems America, a young company whose injector is not approved by federal health authorities and that hasn’t yet set up a factory to manufacture the devices. The commitment to ApiJect dwarfs the other needle orders the government has placed with a major manufacturer and two other small companies.
As part of its strategy to administer the vaccine as quickly as possible, the Trump administration has agreed to invest more than half a billion in tax dollars in ApiJect Systems America, a young company whose injector is not approved by federal health authorities and that hasn’t yet set up a factory to manufacture the devices.
The commitment to ApiJect dwarfs the other needle orders the government has placed with a major manufacturer and two other small companies.
I must emphasize that the start-up’s contract “dwarfs” the contract awarded to an existing major manufacturer, one that presumably can scale up production far more quickly than a company that has yet to even build its factory. ApiJect’s CEO even said “it would be crazy for people to just rely on us” but in trumpworld, crazy is the best we can hope for, though we still don’t know why:
Trump administration officials would not say why they are investing so heavily in ApiJect’s technology. The company has made only about 1,000 prototypes to date, and it’s not clear whether those devices can deliver the vaccines that are currently in development. So far, the leading candidates are using traditional vials to hold the vaccine, and needles and syringes in their clinical trials.
I’m sure we’ll learn that the founder has trump/Kushner ties but for now, this looks like rank incompetence in disbursing taxpayer funds to unproven entities. Again.