Dr. Anthony Fauci: “It’s Unlikely We’ll Have a Definitive Answer” on Vaccines by the Election.
Dr. Moncef Slaoui, Chief Scientific Adviser to Operation Warp Speed: “A Very, Very Low Chance” Trials Will Conclude Before Election
Dr. Offit: People “Should Be” Worried About Politics Influencing A Vaccine Timeline
Stanford Infectious Disease Specialist: “The Worst-Case Scenario Is The Premature Licensing Of A Vaccine That Actually Increases Illness And Death.”
Experts are walking back Donald Trump’s last ditch efforts to salvage his reelection by making empty promises about the imminent arrival of a vaccine. Despite President Trump’s assertions to the contrary, experts are saying it’s unlikely that a safe, effective vaccine will be ready by the election. But as is his style, President Trump is trying to politicize the process and strong arm independent agencies to rush through a vaccine with little regard for science, or for the lives that will be impacted.
Everyone wants a vaccine to be approved — but science should be the driver and experts need to agree that one is both safe and effective. In the meantime, the COVID-19 death toll in the United States continues to rise at 190,000 and counting — the result of Donald Trump’s continued efforts to undercut his own experts and push states and schools to reopen before it’s safe to do so, even as he tries to conjure up a miracle cure to save his campaign.
Experts Are Skeptical That a Safe, Effective Vaccine Will Be Ready By the Election
- Dr. Anthony Fauci: “It’s Unlikely We’ll Have A Definitive Answer” On Vaccines By The Election. “White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday a coronavirus vaccine probably won’t be ready by the U.S. presidential election even as the Centers for Disease and Prevention asks states to ready distribution facilities by Nov. 1… ‘It’s unlikely we’ll have a definitive answer’ by Nov. 3, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said.” [NBC News, 9/8/20]
- Dr. Moncef Slaoui, Chief Scientific Adviser To The Administration’s Operation Warp Speed: There Is “A Very, Very Low Chance” That Trials Will Conclude Before The End Of October. “President Trump has been hinting that a vaccine could be ready before the end of October, but Moncef Slaoui, chief scientific adviser to the administration’s Operation Warp Speed, downplayed that possibility in an interview on NPR’s All Things Considered. ’There is a very, very low chance that the trials that are running as we speak could read before the end of October,’ Slaoui said.” [NPR, 9/7/20]
- A Federal Official Said They Don’t Know Any Scientist Who Believes A Vaccine Will Be Ready Before Election Day. “‘I don’t know any scientist involved in this effort who thinks we will be getting shots into arms any time before Election Day,’ said the official, who is familiar with Operation Warp Speed, the federal government’s effort to develop coronavirus vaccines.” [CNN, 9/7/20]
- Dr. Larry Corey: “The Chances Are Very Low, Very Remote.” “Dr. Larry Corey, who’s leading a group set up by the National Institutes of Health to work on coronavirus vaccines, also said he doesn’t think there will be a vaccine available by Election Day… ‘The chances are very low, very remote,’ said Corey, who leads the COVID-19 Prevention Network.” [CNN, 9/7/20]
- Dr. Kelly Moore, Associate Director Of Immunization Education At The Immunization Action Coalition: “There Is A Tremendous Amount Of Work To Be Done To Be Prepared For This Vaccination Program And It Will Not Be Complete By Nov. 1.” “‘There is a tremendous amount of work to be done to be prepared for this vaccination program and it will not be complete by Nov. 1,’ said Dr. Kelly Moore, associate director of immunization education at the Immunization Action Coalition, a national vaccine education and advocacy organization based in St. Paul, Minnesota. ‘States will need more financial resources than they have now.’” [Kaiser Health News, 9/2/20]
Trump’s Politicization of a Vaccine Could Jeopardize Americans by Undermining Confidence, Putting Health at Risk
- Jonathan Zenilman, Johns Hopkins University School Of Medicine: Politics Will “Make Vaccinations Much More Difficult.” “‘If there is any suspicion that there are political machinations in this process, that is going to make vaccinations much more difficult,’ said Jonathan Zenilman, a professor at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.” [Vox, 9/8/20]
- Dr. Paul Offit, Who Advises The Food And Drug Administration, Believes Insufficient Testing Could Undermine Public Trust In A Vaccine. “Dr. Paul Offit, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who serves on a panel advising the Food and Drug Administration, told NPR last month that he thinks that timeline is unrealistic because Phase 3 trials had only just begun. He said insufficient testing could have adverse effects on public health as well as the public’s trust in a vaccine.” [NPR, 9/2/20]
- Dr. Paul Offit: People “Should Be” Worried About Politics Influencing A Vaccine Timeline. “Dr. Paul Offit, a professor at the University of Pennsylvania and member of the FDA’s vaccine advisory committee, told The New York Times last month that people ‘should be’ worried about politics influencing the vaccine timeline. ‘There are a lot of people on the inside of this process who are very nervous about whether the administration is going to reach their hand into the Warp Speed bucket, pull out one or two or three vaccines, and say, ‘We’ve tested it on a few thousand people, it looks safe, and now we are going to roll it out,’’ he said. ‘They are really worried about that,’ Offit said. ‘And they should be.’” [ABC News, 9/5/20]
- Dr. Fauci Believes Cutting Safety Trials Short Could Undermine Confidence In A Vaccine. “And Fauci acknowledged that cutting a trial short could undermine public confidence in COVID vaccines. One American in three is unwilling to get a COVID vaccine, according to a recent Gallup Poll.” [Kaiser Health News, 9/1/20]
- Former CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden: “If People Don’t Trust The Vaccine, We Risk One Step Forward And Many Steps Back.” “A vaccine could be the best tool we have to fight Covid. That’s why it’s so important we get it right and don’t cut any corners on safety. If people don’t trust the vaccine, we risk one step forward and many steps back.” [Twitter, @DrTomFrieden, 9/2/20]
- Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, Chief Of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University: “I Understand The Urgency, But The Urgency Should Be That We Want To Protect People From Disease, Not Because Of Other Agendas.” “President Trump and administration officials have said a coronavirus vaccine could be ready by the end of the year, possibly even before the Nov. 3 election. That timeline has lit a fire under scientists, including doctors conducting at least four vaccine trials in the Bay Area, but it has also made a lot of people uneasy. ‘I understand the urgency, but the urgency should be that we want to protect people from disease, not because of other agendas,’ said Dr. Yvonne Maldonado, chief of pediatric infectious diseases at the Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital at Stanford University, who will be conducting two vaccine trials. ‘These vaccines could have side effects. At a very minimum, they might not work. We need some time to determine if these vaccines will work.’” [San Francisco Chronicle, 9/6/20]
- Robert Siegel, Stanford University Infectious Disease Specialist: “‘The Worst-Case Scenario Is The Premature Licensing Of A Vaccine That Actually Increases Illness And Death.” “Robert Siegel, an infectious disease specialist at Stanford University, said cutting short testing would be irresponsible because there is no way of knowing whether a vaccine is safe unless it is tested on people of different ages, genders and ethnicity. SARS-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, mutates once or twice a month, so a vaccine would also have to be tested against different strains and lineages to make sure it is safe. ‘There is no way to determine the long-term consequences of vaccination in a short period of time,’ Siegel said. ‘The worst-case scenario is the premature licensing of a vaccine that actually increases illness and death.’” [San Francisco Chronicle, 9/6/20]
As Trump Politicizes Science, Vaccine Makers Have Been Forced to Respond
- In Response To Fears About Trump’s Politicization Of The Vaccine Process, Nine Pharmaceutical Companies Signed A Joint Pledge Not To Seek Premature Government Approval For A Vaccine. “Nine vaccine makers say they have signed a joint pledge to uphold ‘high ethical standards’ suggesting they won’t seek premature government approval for any Covid-19 vaccines they develop. ‘We, the undersigned biopharmaceutical companies, want to make clear our on-going commitment to developing and testing potential vaccines for COVID-19 in accordance with high ethical standards and sound scientific principles,’ the pledge, released Tuesday, reads. The companies that signed the pledge include AstraZeneca, BioNTech, Moderna, Pfizer, Novavax, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson and Merck.” [CNN, 9/8/20]