Is the Fate of the World About To Come Down To Marketing?

The cure has been found. Actually, multiple cures. Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and even a random Swedish startup you've never heard of are all fast tracking potential vaccine treatments for COVID-19. It's the moment most of us have spent nearly a year (has it been that long?!) waiting for. Some estimates say treatments might start by the end of the year. But will they be safe? And assuming they are, which one should you take?

Unlike other medical scenarios, the vaccine (at least initially) is looking like it won't be a single thing. There will be options. And even though the global rollout will limit what is available to any of us, how will people decide which vaccine to take? How will the medical community decide which one to prescribe? And how will we address the predictable and inevitable stupidity of the anti-vaxxers who will never believe any vaccine is safe?

None of these are questions of science or politics. They are questions of marketing. Who will tell a better story more persuasively is the real question. In other words, who will be better at marketing? The fate of the world might indeed be up to marketing. Just in case you needed something else to panic about.