White House Reportedly Pressured FDA Chief, Was Told to Approve Pfizer Vaccine by End of the Day or Update His Resume

[Auburn85 434]

https://www.mediaite.com/news/breaking-white-house-reportedly-pressured-fda-chief-was-told-to-approve-pfizer-vaccine-by-end-of-the-day-or-update-his-resume/

 

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An FDA advisory panel signed off on the Pfizer vaccine on Thursday, which means the agency is likely to do the same very soon.

But apparently FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn received some pressure from the White House to expedite that process by the end of today or else his job might be at risk.

The Washington Post broke news Friday that in a call earlier in the day, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told Hahn “to submit his resignation if the agency does not clear the nation’s first coronavirus vaccine by day’s end.”

Axios also reported the conversation took place, saying that Meadows “hinted to Food and Drug Administration commissioner Stephen Hahn on a phone call Friday that his job security might be in jeopardy as he pushed the FDA chief to approve Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine by the end of the day.”

An anonymous White House official responded to the reports saying, “We don’t comment on private conversations, but the Chief regularly requests updates on progress toward a vaccine.”

Hahn said in a response to Axios it was “an untrue representation of the phone call with the Chief of Staff.”

Reports of the call came out hours after President Donald Trump publicly attacked Hahn, accusing him of ‘playing games” for not approving the vaccines quicker and saying the agency “is still a big, old, slow turtle.”

 

 

[creed 1,728]

I can understand the President's displeasure since every health organization involved in  developing and delivering a vaccine has been at warp speed for several months. So the question i suppose is why did the agency not sign off on it the instant the advisory board 's approval. I guess you can just chalk it up to JWBW (Just Washington Being Washington).

[Mikey 16,781]

3 hours ago, creed said:

So the question i suppose is why did the agency not sign off on it the instant the advisory board 's approval.

I'd have called them in at midnight if necessary. The agency should have held their meeting the very minute the advisory board sent their recommendation in.

Every day's delay can be measured in lives lost. After months of government expense and industry overtime to get a vaccine finished in unheard of record time, there was no excuse for the FDA to piddle around for several days waiting to hold a meeting. It was time for The Boss to put his foot down, and that boss is President Trump. Another kudo to the President!

[homersapien 11,812]

14 hours ago, creed said:

I can understand the President's displeasure since every health organization involved in  developing and delivering a vaccine has been at warp speed for several months. So the question i suppose is why did the agency not sign off on it the instant the advisory board 's approval. I guess you can just chalk it up to JWBW (Just Washington Being Washington).

The advisory board is an independent board of experts.  They are not part of the FDA and cannot make decisions on the part of FDA.

My understanding is that the FDA decision was to be made Saturday morning (this morning). 

The threat made by Mark Meadows only confirmed the fact politics was playing a role in FDA's approval.  That's counter-productive if the goal is to get people vaccinated as soon as possible.

[creed 1,728]

1 hour ago, homersapien said:

The advisory board is an independent board of experts.  They are not part of the FDA and cannot make decisions on the part of FDA.

My understanding is that the FDA decision was to be made Saturday morning (this morning). 

The threat made by Mark Meadows only confirmed the fact politics was playing a role in FDA's approval.  That's counter-productive if the goal is to get people vaccinated as soon as possible.

I’m not looking at it it from a “political” standpoint. I wouldn’t care who the President is...substitute Biden if you like and I would say the same thing. Has the FDA been in warp speed mode? If not why did the current President say anything?

 

 

[homersapien 11,812]

5 minutes ago, creed said:

I’m not looking at it it from a “political” standpoint. I wouldn’t care who the President is...substitute Biden if you like and I would say the same thing. Has the FDA been in warp speed mode? If not why did the current President say anything?

 

 

I agree, if Biden's chief of staff had done the same thing, it would have also indicated politics was interceding in the approval process.