‘Get the damn vaccines out now!’ Trump rages at ‘slow turtle’ FDA for taking so long to approve Pfizer vaccine and tells them ‘stop playing games and start saving lives’ – as Azar says approval may still take ‘a couple of days’
- Trump tweeted on Friday that the FDA was a ‘slow turtle’ taking too long to approve the vaccine
- Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said that the FDA ‘told Pfizer it intends to proceed with approval’ but that they were still ‘negotiating’
- It could take several days, he said, before approval is actually given much less rolled out across the country
- He claims the first shots in the arm will be on Monday and Tuesday next week but it’s unclear where
- Meanwhile on Wednesday, the US had its deadliest day yet with 3,144 deaths
- Twenty-three scientists met on Thursday to discuss if the vaccine was safe and effective
- They have recommended to the FDA that it should be approved but it still hasn’t
- Both the UK and Canada approved have already approved vaccine
President Donald Trump raged at the FDA for taking so long to approve Pfizer’s COVID vaccine on Friday morning and ordered them to ‘stop playing games and start saving lives’ as Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said official approval may still take ‘a couple of days’.
A panel of 23 independent scientists voted in favor of the vaccine on Thursday and recommended it to the FDA after a day of long, drawn-out talks over whether or not it is safe.
But the FDA still has not officially given it approval and the first doses haven’t been distributed yet, even though the UK and Canada have both given it the green light.
Health and Human Services Alex Azar says the FDA has told Pfizer it ‘intends to approve’ its COVID vaccine after an excruciating two-and-a-half week wait but inexplicably, it still hasn’t and there is still no date for when the first people will receive it in America.
Speaking on Good Morning America, he said: ‘I’ve got some good news for you. Just a little bit ago, the FDA informed Pfizer that they intends to proceed towards approval for its vaccine.
‘In the next couple of days probably as we work to negotiate with Pfizer the information doctors need to prescribe appropriately, we should be seeing the authorization and we’ll be working with Pfizer to get that shipped out so we could be seeing people getting vaccinated Monday, Tuesday of next week.’
Speaking on Good Morning America, Health and Human Services Alex Azar says the FDA has told Pfizer it ‘intends to approve’ its COVID vaccine after an excruciating two-and-a-half week wait but inexplicably, it still hasn’t
The first shots in the arm in the US won’t be until Monday or Tuesday at the very earliest. Above, someone getting the vaccine in the UK on December 8
Once distributed to the states, each state must set up its own schedule and plan for distributing it among the people.
The FDA released a statement on Friday morning claiming it was working to approve the vaccine quickly.
‘Following yesterday’s positive advisory committee meeting outcome regarding the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has informed the sponsor that it will rapidly work toward finalization and issuance of an emergency use authorization.
‘The agency has also notified the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Operation Warp Speed, so they can execute their plans for timely vaccine distribution,’ Commissioner Steve Hahn said in a statement on Friday morning.
In New York, for example, Governor Cuomo says he’ll start dishing out the shots on December 15, starting with nursing home staff, residents and healthcare workers.
Azar said the first shots in the arm would be December 14 or 15.
‘We’re looking at 20million Americans being vaccinated in the next couple weeks, 50million by the end of January.
‘We believe we could have 100million vaccinations in arm by the end of February.
‘The products just keep rolling out, especially if we get to add AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson to our arsenal,’ he said.
By that timeline, optimistically, that would mean less than a third of the US population would be vaccinated by the end of February.
Pfizer submitted to the FDA for emergency approval on November 23. This is how many people have died since then from COVID
All the experts however say at least 75 percent of population needs to be vaccinated for life to return to pre-pandemic levels and there’s no telling how long that will take or if it ever will.
There remains a huge amount of skepticism surrounding the vaccine that scientists are trying now to fight against.
On Friday morning, former CDC Director Dr. Rich Besser told Today: ‘There was an overwhelming feeling that this is a very safe and effective vaccine, and that the FDA should approve it.
The scientists at yesterday’s panel also all voted that the vaccine was safe.
‘An EUA is a starting point but in all likelihood, the FDA will request the company will continue to do additional studies.
‘There was overwhelming feeling that this is a very safe and effective vaccine and that the FDA should approve it,’ he said.