George Bush’S Great America [EN]: Chapter 191

< Chapter 190 >

“Are you out of your mind?”

What could I possibly hide? The researchers who received this official document or heard the news all reacted the same way. President Bush’s declaration was utterly incomprehensible.

“Impossible. This can’t be happening.”

There are three primary methods for producing vaccines: cell culture, embryonated egg culture, and genetic recombination. The most common of these is embryonated egg culture. To put it simply, without using technical jargon, embryonated egg culture involves injecting a virus into a sterile embryonated egg, culturing it for about 10 days, then culturing the virus again for 3 days using advanced equipment. After that, it’s recovered and separated using a centrifuge, and gradually refined to create a vaccine that can be inoculated into the human body.

The other two methods are quite straightforward. Even someone with a basic understanding of vaccines likely knows about cell culture. Viruses are introduced to and multiplied within mammalian cells, then broken down with chemicals to create virus fragments, which are then used as a vaccine. Recombination is exemplified by the hepatitis B vaccine. If cell culture didn’t work, this method was the go-to solution.

The common factor was that all these methods required a significant amount of time. Embryonated egg culture typically takes 6 months, while the others usually take 1 to 2 months. And that’s for ‘general vaccines.’ But Super SARS was different. There was a reason why the entire world had been struggling for 4 months without producing a vaccine.

It possessed an astonishing mutation ability, so much so that I’d be more inclined to believe the conspiracy theory that the United States created a new biological weapon and released it in China, or that it had leaked from a Chinese laboratory. Coronaviruses are inherently difficult to create vaccines for because they can transform into completely different viruses with even slight changes. Super SARS had a high mortality rate, and existing antiviral drugs were ineffective, necessitating the use of strong medications to keep patients alive.

Therefore, reaching the commercialization stage within a short period of 3 months was nearly impossible. Developing a vaccine is difficult enough, and whether a vaccine could even be created within that 3-month period was questionable. But to commercialize it and distribute it worldwide within 3 months? It defied logic.

“500 million dollars.”

That’s right. If it weren’t for this astronomical sum that made your head spin, maybe it would have been impossible.

“An additional 600 million dollars in donations.”

This money was raised from all sectors of American society. It wasn’t initiated by Bush, but after Buffett’s initial contribution, donations increased across the board. Michael Jackson’s concern for suffering children worldwide was so profound that he donated $100 million of his own money. There’s a saying that ‘the most effective way to raise donations is to use celebrities or stars,’ and all Americans were able to witness Michael Jackson’s influence once again.

The reason it reached ‘600 million dollars’ was that this money was collected not only in the United States but also internationally. Someone once said that class is eternal? Michael Jackson was Michael Jackson, after all.

If a lot of money doesn’t work, use even more money. The idea was so simple that even a child could grasp it, but it was as effective as it was simple.

‘Did they say it can’t be done with billions of dollars? Oh, then there should be more money than billions of dollars! If that doesn’t work, what about even more money? If that doesn’t work, then what about even more more more more more money than that?’

“If there is something in the world that can’t be done with money, let’s consider whether that money is insufficient. I don’t know who said it, but there is no better saying than this.”

“But, are you sure about this? With this, the Arsenal Ship [a proposed US Navy warship] that the President was promoting has gone down the drain. It might take another 10 years to raise that much money again…”

“I know. But that ship can’t be more important than the United States. And we should be satisfied with the fact that about one ship for testing is being built. What does it matter? We haven’t abandoned the newly established aircraft carrier fleet; at worst, we’ve only given up one ship.”

Anyway, with that money, exceeding billions, a large-scale laboratory was newly established, and a large number of expensive research machines were ordered.

“Think about how to utilize these laboratories or this vaccine research once this is all over.”

These laboratories were like Olympic stadiums. They were entities that turned into troublemakers once their purpose was fulfilled.

‘With this, we will be at the forefront of the pharmaceutical sector, an advantage that can never be overtaken, but that alone is not enough.’

Thanks to covering 600 million out of the 1 billion dollars that were originally planned to be used for donations, it exceeded the target amount by 100 million, but it is still a whopping 500 million. 500 million dollars is more than enough to change the lives of tens of millions or billions of people, and it was an amount that could be used to do anything even at the national level, not just individually.

“When the situation is over, so many ideas will come up that you’ll be tired of them even if you don’t want them.”

As he said, everything from bizarre proposals that couldn’t even be imagined to brilliant ideas that would surprise experts emerged in various ways. But the final decision rested entirely with the president.

“I don’t like this. I want to focus on one thing, but I can’t.”

Bush grumbled as he watched the sun rise between the concrete jungle. It was the first sunrise of the year. The 2003 calendar was in the trash, and the 2004 calendar was on the desk. According to the original plan, he had intended to get a good night’s sleep on the first day of the new year, especially with a New Year’s address to prepare.

However, the imminent danger kept his pen dancing across documents all night. There were 3581 confirmed cases in the entire United States, with 28 deaths. Among these, 12 had compromised immune systems, and 2 were accidents unrelated to the disease.

“Haha, isn’t that politics?”

The chief of staff smiled slyly at Bush’s grumbling, implying that he had brought this hardship upon himself. The fragrant scent of tea tickled his nose. He usually drank coffee every day, but today it was tea because his health checkup results weren’t great.

Even if they weren’t good, it was just due to routine work fatigue, but tea was still less harmful to the body than coffee, even in the same amount. Because of the diuretic action of tea, he had to visit the bathroom frequently, but it definitely had fewer aftereffects than coffee.

Thinking about the Boston Tea Party [a political protest in 1773], the image of former American presidents looking at the White House from heaven and being horrified came to his mind, causing him to laugh. In fact, the Boston Tea Party has been subtly embellished by the needs of later generations, but it is true that they threw tea into the sea.

“Chief of Staff.”

“Yes.”

Bush sighed, the scent of tea lingering in the air.

“I don’t really like politics. In fact, I can say that I hate it. It’s because I feel like I’m seeing more of the dark side of humanity for no reason. Haven’t you ever felt that way?”

This was the truth. Whether it was Kim or Bush, now essentially the same person, there was a chillingly common point: the more you know about politics, the more it breeds misanthropy. John Godfrey Saxe said that laws are like sausages, and the more you know how they are made, the more you end up hating the laws themselves, and it was undeniably true.

“I have had that experience countless times.”

As expected, it was similar. It wasn’t exactly the same as Bush, but the chief of staff certainly shared a similar disposition to some extent.

“But isn’t that why you’re involved in politics, to prevent that from happening?”

How contradictory is that? The more you do it, the more disgusting it becomes, yet you do politics to prevent it from happening! But someone said that the beauty of human beings lies in overcoming something. It doesn’t have to be significant: fighting against chronic bad habits, studying for an hour longer, reducing alcohol consumption for health, even waking up early in the morning. Overcoming is like that.

Bush is overcoming politics by engaging in politics. He doesn’t completely agree with that statement about ‘overcoming’ that could easily devolve into spiritualism, but when he recalled the situations he was in and the things he responded to, it was undeniably true.

Not everyone was just fighting for their own interests. How else could there be progress? Among them, there were definitely good people who readily shared their resources with others. Although only a very small number, there were certainly altruistic people.

Among them, there is someone who can readily donate 100 million dollars he earned with blood and sweat to society, isn’t there?

‘And it’s my job to keep those people from falling off a cliff and protect them from harsh storms.’

When Bush first took office, he thought that as President of the United States, he could do anything. But that wasn’t the case. There were many things that couldn’t be done, even with billions of dollars. Well, on an individual level, most things humans can imagine were possible, but when it came to the national or international level, there were too many limitations.

So he decided to do what he could. He rejected what he was sure was ‘no!’ and fully supported and pushed what he thought was ‘yes!’ Because this was based on ‘facts’ that he knew, not ‘professional knowledge,’ whether it was actually right or wrong was secondary. He thought it was a million times better than failing immediately.

‘It’s still going smoothly, but.’

How long will that last? When he thought that far, Bush realized that his distractions had been too long and turned his eyes back to the documents. And thanks to the documents, he was able to recall a fact that had been forgotten.

“So, what happened to that sniper, John Doe the Sniper?”

He had somehow glossed over the shocking news that Riga had fallen, but this was also a pretty important case. It was like a key point that could exert influence in seemingly impenetrable western Iraq.

“Sniper John Doe?”

“Ah, I’m talking about the plane hijacking and western Iraq. That’s the name I gave him. He was such a famous sniper in the Mujahideen [Islamic guerrilla fighters] and the Iraqi War of Independence.”

But now he’s just an old man in his room. Now, in the old military song that is being forgotten, did they say, ‘Old soldiers never die, they just fade away?’ That’s what it was. However, that was only when that John Doe didn’t have any intention of getting into politics.

“I don’t know, but he must have some intention in that direction. No one risks their life in a fight without a motive.”

The chief of staff rummaged through the documents for about 10 minutes and finally managed to find John Doe’s personal information.

“He has a very grandiose name. Sniper John Doe is currently hospitalized in France. He is scheduled to undergo spinal surgery in a month. I will have the CIA contact him.”

Bush, who felt an ominous feeling for a reason from the word CIA, hesitated for a moment and opened his mouth in an uneasy voice.

“Tell the CIA to move a little less aggressively this time.”