“The deep state, or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics. Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives!,” Trump tweeted, tagging agency commissioner Dr. Stephen M. Hahn.
The deep state, or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics. Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives! SteveFDA
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2020
Stat News is reporting today that top biotechnology executives were fast to warn that politics could not be part of the process of developing vaccines and treatments against Covid-19, and to praise the speed at which the FDA has moved. In other words,
Trump is trying to politicize COVID-19 vaccines, and why not? He has politicized everything from the U.S. Postal Service to the Democratic convention and the list goes on and on. But most people are now onto Trump’s nefarious schemes to win votes.
“Politics must stay out of the conduct and interpretation of clinical trials aimed at evaluating the efficacy and safety of Covid vaccines, as public trust in the results is paramount to ending the pandemic,” John Maraganore, the chief executive of Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, told STAT.
The deep state at the FDA? Wow you really want your picture in the dictionary next to the word lunatic, don’t you? Well don’t worry, you’re already there.
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) August 22, 2020
Jeremy Levin, chairman of BIO, the biotechnology industry lobbying group, said, “Developing those critical medicines depends on the independent rigorous reviews, integrity and scientific and medical capability of the FDA. The FDA has assisted and supported the industry to become what it has, and is deeply respected in the USA and abroad.”
Apparently, Trump is trying to get more dissension started after the administration backed the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) last week when they announced the HHS will allow coronavirus tests developed by individual laboratories to be used without FDA review.
It seems that, out of the blue, HHS determined the FDA does not have the authority to regulate lab-developed tests for any condition, including COVID-19.
The FDA reportedly opposed the HHS decision, citing the fact that some tests have proven to be faulty, while HHS officials said the FDA’s approval process hampered their ability to develop and promptly release tests.
— TurnTexasBlue (@SuperDuperSJW) August 22, 2020
Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, this week threatened to resign if the agency were to approve a COVID-19 vaccine that’s not proven to be safe and effective. He said, “I could not stand by and see something that was unsafe or ineffective that was being put through.”
“You have to decide where your red line is, and that’s my red line,” he told Reuters. “I would feel obligated [to resign] because in doing so, I would indicate to the American public that there’s something wrong.”
And of course, last month, Trump revived his push for COVID-19 patients to take the unproven anti-malaria drug hydroxychloroquine, after the FDA yanked its authorization for use of the drug in hospitals, citing a lack of evidence that its effective, reports the NY Post.
I hope the electorate is smarter than Trump thinks it is – because if a majority of the voting population falls for his garbage conspiracy and “deep state” theories, we are going to be in one hell of a lot of trouble come November.
