After Pfizer announced readiness a week ago, Moderna is now ready as well.
Pfizer has an FDA meeting for an EUA on Dec 10, Moderna is not yet scheduled. But we know both the be over 94% effective in preventing COVID infections and Moderna’s is shown to be 100% effective in preventing a severe course of the disease. That is likely true of Pfizer’s as well, they just didn’t test that criteria.
So, with 30,000 or so a month dying, it is unethical to let people die waiting to cross every T and dot every I. Trump has gotten a lot of flack for overruling “experts” but that hardly matters now. He should call in the FDA leadership and tell them to have that meeting today based on what is known today.
If they decline, he should fire them en mass and promote the next echelon to their places and pose the same demand. Eventually, he will have fired enough dead wood to get things done.
We have enough on hand to vaccinate the vulnerable population by the end of the year. and nearly eliminate COVID as a cause of death by the new year.
If the FDA had been in charge of D-Day, and waited for perfect conditions, we’d be speaking German now. COVID has already killed more Americans than we lost in WW2.
The risk of waiting is greater than any conceivable risk of acting.
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Moving quickly on anything is anathema to the bureaucratic mess that is the FDA. Hopefully they will surprise us. Heck maybe even some effective Executive branch leadership would be helpful.
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An executive branch drone strike on FDA headquarters might be more effective.
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How about getting the president (he still is our president) to get his administration to hustle things up?
If he could take a few hours of his valuable time spent declaring his “win” and meet with his folks at the FDA to see if there is something that could be done.
He is still on the payroll.
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Unfortunately, the FDA has a lot of autonomy.
Firing the leadership or a drone strike are about the only options.
Trump can’t personally dictate the FDA findings, he can only for the appointees at the top, the civil service employees have a great deal of power for unelected bureaucrats.
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Actually the bully pulpit (used properly) could be a powerful and persuasive tool. Asking a President, any President, to do the “job” of being a leader for the common good doesn’t (or shouldn’t) seem beyond the pale….
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Asking a President to cut into his golf time is anathema to Trumpism.
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Yeah, I know, the president is not responsible for actions of his administration even after 4 years.
Yet the botched BATF “Fast and Furious” program, the IRS supposed persecution of phony right wing non-profits, Benghazi, and God knows what else all landed on Obama’s lap no matter how distant he personally was.
As they should have been.
Don’t try to say Trump was too shy to lambast his HHS. He was just too disinterested and incompetent to push the FDA as you wished. He gladly extorted major corporations that didn’t please him.
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The BATF is under the direct authority of the Justice Dept. The FDA was set up to be semi autonomous to exclude influence peddling.
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At least THIS President…
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