The U.S. was in a fit of Covid panic during Thanksgiving week two years ago. The Omicron variant had emerged like a creature from the Black Lagoon. Public-health officials indicated we’d need another updated booster. Share prices in Pfizer and Moderna surged.

By month’s end, Pfizer’s stock-market value had surpassed $300 billion, up 50% from the start of the pandemic. Moderna’s shares had soared by more than 1,000% over the same period. In 2022 Pfizer became the first pharmaceutical company to book more than $100 billion in annual sales owing to government purchases of its vaccines and antiviral pill.