Controlling Ebola

I have stressed before the importance of strict isolation in preventing the spread of Ebola from Africa to the rest of the world's population. In this respect, the failure to prevent those who have been to Ebola infected places like Liberia from entering the United States is simply insane. Likewise, the idea being floated by the White House, to bring Ebola patents from Africa to United States for treatment, is one of the most ridiculous and risky suggestions ever to come out of Obama's clueless administration. Similarly, the idea that we should send troops to fight a virus is equally absurd. The question at this time is simple and straight forward, how do we control this virus before it goes worldwide and kills a third or more of the world's population? To prevent this potential catastrophe from becoming a reality we must develop a vaccine the will prevent human's from developing the disease just as we did when facing the polio epidemic in the last century. The question is why have we not done so? After all, we face a new flu virus every single year and always come up with a "flu shot" which is reasonably effective controlling the spread of the virus. Why, then, haven't be been able to develop a vaccine for Ebola or a cure for the disease? The answer to this question is far simpler than you might think! We have not developed an Ebola vaccine because, to date, too few people are affected by the virus and there is no money in it for the companies who have the resources to develop such a vaccine. Strangely, capitalism doesn't work all that well if there is not the potential of a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, in this case a large pot of gold. The answer is for the government to get involved! Those who know me and those who frequent my blog or read the books I pen, will find this suggestion strange at best and, at worst, evidence that I have gone insane (I think so myself at times). However, I am not suggesting that the government bureaucrats and the researchers they fund will ever find a cure for Ebola or develop a vaccine to curb the spread of the disease, not in a hundred years they won't! But the government has unlimited resources

and they can use some of these monies to fund companies in the private sector who, if given an incentive, can and will, develop a vaccine that can be used to prevent the spread of the Ebola Virus. The next question is how can we make this happen before this localized Ebola problem in Africa becomes a worldwide pandemic? The answer is to offer a one billion dollar reward to the first person, company or organization that comes up with a drug that will kill the virus, without killing the infected person, or develops a vaccine that can be employed to prevent the spread of the virus. I believe such a reward would produce its intended results within two years and maybe sooner if private enterprises with experience in production of vaccines can be induced to get with the program.