Covid-19 vaccination in UK “is rushed”, warns Anthony Fauci

Anthony Fauci, America’s top epidemiologist, criticized the UK’s speed in approving Pfizer-BioNTech’s COVID-19 vaccine on Thursday, suggesting it could undermine public confidence.

Britain became the first Western country on Wednesday to approve a new coronavirus vaccine for general use, prompting some skepticism among European neighbors and speculation that the process was politicized.

“They really rushed with that approval,” Fauci, director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told CBS News.

The respected scientist compared the British regulatory authority to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which he called “the gold standard of regulation.”

At the FDA “they’re doing it very carefully, appropriately, because if we do something to cut corners and rush, we have enough problems with people being skeptical about vaccination anyway,” he said.

“If we had jumped the hurdle here quickly and inappropriately to win another week or a week and a half, I think the credibility of our regulatory process would have been damaged,” he said.

Fauci added, “I love the British,” and said he respected UK scientists.

“But they just took the data from the Pfizer company and instead of analyzing it very, very carefully, they said, ‘Okay, let’s pass. That’s it,’ and they accepted it.”

“In fact, their counterparts in the European Union criticized them quite severely and said, ‘That was a thing like making sausages,'” Fauci said.

British ministers claimed that Brexit had allowed them to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine before their neighbors, who are still awaiting the green light from the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

The UK is still under EU drug marketing rules until December 31, the end of the post-Brexit transition period, but has approved the vaccine under an emergency provision provided for in European law.

German Health Minister Jens Spahn said in a videoconference with his EU colleagues on Wednesday: “The idea is not to be first, but to have a safe and effective vaccine.”

“It is a question of experience, obviously, and of authorization. But as we have seen in the UK comments, it is also a political question for the EU,” he added.

Also read: Medications for covid-19 do not significantly reduce deaths, according to study