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LONDON, Dec 3 (Reuters) – Anthony Fauci, America’s leading infectious disease expert, criticized UK regulators on Thursday for swift approval of Pfizer Inc’s COVID-19 vaccine, a day after authorization to be announced in London.
By Estelle Shirbon
Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said on Wednesday it had conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the vaccine before granting its emergency use.
“You know I love the British, they are great, they are good scientists, but they just took the data from the Pfizer company and instead of analyzing it very, very carefully, they said: OK, let’s pass, that’s it, and they accepted it.” Fauci said in pictures shown on UK news channels.
He said that the US Food and Drug Administration was the regulatory gold standard and that the agency was evaluating the vaccine data very carefully, which it called appropriate.
“Because if we did something that was to cut corners and rush, we have enough problems with people being skeptical of vaccination anyway,” Fauci said.
The skepticism comes from a significant proportion of Americans who reject medical science, as well as those who distrust the safety of vaccines developed at record speed.
“If we had jumped the hurdle here quickly and inappropriately to gain an extra week or a week and a half, I think the credibility of our regulatory process would have been damaged,” Fauci added.
In response to Fauci’s criticism, the MHRA issued a statement saying that it had “rigorously evaluated the data in the shortest time possible without compromising the thoroughness of our review.”
The regulator also said that its emergency approval had allowed “some stages of this process to happen in parallel to condense the necessary time, but it does not mean that the steps and the expected standards of safety, quality and efficacy have been overlooked.”
Fauci is the most prominent member of the White House coronavirus task force and has often clashed with President Donald Trump on how to protect Americans from the virus. He was scheduled to meet with members of President-elect Joe Biden’s team on Thursday. (Reporting by Estelle Shirbon Edited by Chris Reese and Bill Berkrot)
