POLITICO — A president who preached "America First" is demanding to know why the United States could end up third, or worse, in the global vaccine race. President Donald Trump and his deputies are privately admonishing Food and Drug Administration officials for not moving faster to authorize promising coronavirus vaccines. Some of the questions circulating in the White House echo concerns raised by outside public health experts, who also have urged haste as the pandemic worsens.
"Every day that goes by is 2,000 people dead. I don't know another circumstance where waiting on drug approval has such an impact on mortality," said HPM's Walid Gellad, the director of the Center for Pharmaceutical Policy and Prescribing at the University of Pittsburgh. "The implications of this are huge medically, if you put aside politics."
Gellad argued that FDA was constrained by its October decision to require drugmakers to provide two months of safety data before applying for emergency authorization for a vaccine. "Sometimes in a crisis, you might have to cut corners," he added.
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Photo: President Donald Trump listens as FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn, left, speaks during a media briefing at the White House on Aug. 23, 2020. | Alex Brandon/AP Photo
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New York Times -“When you say it’s OK to wait another week or two, you’re saying it’s OK that many thousands of people are going to die,” said Dr. Walid F. Gellad, who leads the Center for Pharmaceutical Policy and Prescribing at the University of Pittsburgh.
12/02/2020