FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn declined to comment Sunday when multiple Sunday program hosts pressured him about President Trump’s suggestion the day before that 99 percent of coronavirus cases were “harmless.”
Hahn’s appearance on CNN’s “State of the Union” and ABC News’s “This Week” followed Trump’s July 4 speech from the South Lawn of the White House.
“There was no evidence for a new virus, but now we have examined almost 40 million people,” Trump said. “In doing so, we show cases, 99 percent of which are completely harmless, results that no other country can show because no other country has evidence that we have, not in terms of numbers or in terms of quality.”
When “State of the Union” host Dana Bash verified the president’s statement, Hahn said he would “not understand who is right and who is wrong.”
“It is a serious problem that we have. We have seen the increase in cases. We must do something to stop the tide, ”said Hahn. “We have this in our power to do it is by following the guidance of the White House working group and the [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]. ”
Hahn also declined to comment directly on Trump’s “99 percent” figure, during his appearance on “This Week.”
Hahn reiterated that Americans must “follow CDC’s guidance; follow state and local government protocols” because “this is how we are going to get out of this. This is how we are going to flatten it further. This is how we are going to stop this increasing number of cases in the Sun Belt. ”
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Hahn also declined to comment directly on Trump’s statement during his speech that the United States “will likely have a therapeutic and / or vaccine solution long before the end of the year.”
“I can’t predict when a vaccine will be available,” Hahn told Martha Raddatz, host of “This Week.”
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“Yes, we are seeing an unprecedented speed for the development of a vaccine. But … we issued guidance last week on vaccine development because we want to be very clear, our solemn promise to the American people is that we will make a data and science-based decision about a vaccine regarding the safety and effectiveness of that vaccine. vaccine. “
On Saturday, the World Health Organization reported that the United States has recorded more than 53,000 new cases and some 623 deaths in a single day, totaling more than 2.7 million and 128,481, respectively.
