Trump-haters are so determined to defeat the president that they’re opposing emergency authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine.
Trump-haters are so determined to defeat the president that they’re opposing emergency authorization of a COVID-19 vaccine. Without a vaccine, another 100,000 fatalities are expected by year’s end, according to Washington University epidemiologists. Food and Drug Commissioner Stephen Hahn recently ignited a firestorm when he said the FDA might grant emergency use authorization to one of the COVID-19 vaccines this fall, if clinical trial results indicate it’s safe and effective. Emergency use authorization would allow the vaccine to be rushed to front-line health-care workers, cancer patients, first responders, mass transit workers and the elderly. But only those who want it. It’s voluntary, just like “right to try.” Full-fledged FDA approval will take months longer, and most Americans won’t be able to stop in a drug store to get vaccinated until mid-2021. Emergency use authorization is customarily granted when early results are so promising that waiting would amount to a cruel disregard for the lives that could be saved. The European Union and the United Kingdom also have announced they’re considering emergency or conditional approval. Joe Biden accuses Donald Trump of meddling in vaccine development rather than leaving it to the experts.
