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WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday (September 23) that he may or may not approve any new and stricter FDA standards for an emergency authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine, and said such a proposal it would seem political.
Trump has repeatedly said that a vaccine for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, could be ready for distribution before the November 3 presidential election.
The Washington Post reported Tuesday that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration would issue the guidance to boost transparency and public trust, as health experts increasingly worry that the Trump administration may be interfering in the approval process to launch a vaccine.
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Trump, however, questioned why a vaccine would need to be delayed and said such a proposal from the FDA would appear to have political momentum.
“We are looking at that and that has to be approved by the White House. We can approve it or not,” Trump said at a news conference at the White House, when asked about the Post’s report.
“That sounds like a political move. Because when you have Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, these big companies, inventing vaccines, and they’ve done tests and everything else, I’m saying why they would have to be adding a lot of length to the process. “.
Trump added that he had “tremendous confidence” in those companies.
Few vaccine developers were expected to have definitive results before the presidential election. Pfizer had been the exception, although its schedule could be delayed with a new orientation.
Moderna has said that it is unlikely to have data in October. AstraZeneca’s trial in the United States is halted as researchers try to determine whether a serious neurological problem suffered by a participant in the company’s trial in the United Kingdom was caused by the vaccine.
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The director of the US Food and Drug Administration, Stephen Hahn, did not refer directly to the Washington Post report when he testified before the Senate on Wednesday.
But he said regulators would likely provide additional information on the emergency use authorization process.
At the same hearing, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Robert Redfield, said that he expects there will be around 700 million doses of vaccines available by the end of March or April, enough to 350 million people.
“I think it will take April, May, June, you know, possibly July, for the entire American public to be fully vaccinated,” Redfield told the US Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
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