White House orders FDA chief to authorize Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine Friday or submit his resignation

[BumRushDaShow]

Source: Washington Post

White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Friday told Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, to submit his resignation if the agency does not clear the nation’s first coronavirus vaccine by day’s end, according to people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss what happened.

The threat came on the same day that President Trump tweeted that the FDA is “a big, old, slow turtle” in its handling of vaccines, while exhorting Commissioner Stephen Hahn to “get the dam vaccines out NOW.” He added: “Stop playing games and start saving lives!!!” The warning led the FDA to accelerate its timetable for clearing America’s first vaccine from Saturday morning to later Friday. A White House official declined to comment, saying “we don’t comment on private conversations, but the Chief regularly requests updates on progress toward a vaccine.”

The warning, combined with the tweets, constituted the latest attack by Trump, who has complained vociferously that the vaccine wasn’t authorized before Election Day, blaming it on the ‘Deep State’ inside the agency that he accused of working against his reelection. Trump was also said to be upset that Britain cleared the vaccine before the United States, although the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been developed and reviewed in record time.

With the timetable apparently accelerated from Saturday morning, the FDA and Pfizer were rushing to complete the paperwork needed for the authorization, according to another individual who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he didn’t have authority to discuss the plans. An FDA statement issued early Friday morning said the FDA had informed Pfizer that it would “rapidly work toward finalization and issuance of an emergency use authorization” following Thursday’s endorsement of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine by an agency advisory committee.

Read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/12/11/trump-stephen-hahn-fda-covid-vaccine/

---

[fearnobush]

1. Lol, that'll make his antivaxers take it sooner.

[underpants]

2. You beat me too it. The tease was "WH Orders FDA..."

then it was “threatened” or as our dear Melissa Carone in Michigan would say “threa’ened” and when I opened it in Safari it had the headline you posted.

Trump is such an asshole.

[bluestarone]

3. Nothing but THREATS from this bunch of assholes

SOOOO tired of their threats!

[yonder]

4. "Stop playing games and start saving lives!!!"

We've been calling on tRump to do absolutely that for the last 9 months.

[Mc Mike]

13. "Fore!"

[yaesu]

5. This will really put a kibosh on any trust in any vaccine. nt

[demmiblue]

6. I agree with this:

Link to tweet

[PSPS]

7. Well, there goes any hope of enough people wanting to get the vaccine.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

8. Why is he in such a hurry for a vaccine for a "Democrat hoax"?

If his idiot followers had any brains they would ask that question.

[OhioTim]

24. HaHa

What a bunch of idiots.

[riversedge]

9. No shortcuts was the goal---but Trump temper tantum flew past that goal.............

https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/12/11/trump-stephen-hahn-fda-covid-vaccine/

..............The statement was signed by Hahn and Peter Marks, director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, which reviews vaccines. The officials said the FDA has also notified the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Operation Warp Speed, “so they can execute their plans for timely vaccine distribution.”

The threat injects politics once more into the vaccine race, potentially undermining public trust in one of the most crucial tools to end the pandemic that has killed more than 290,000 Americans. It comes in the midst of a process that had been designed to show no shortcuts were taken in reviewing the safety and effectiveness of a vaccine.

The Food and Drug Administration’s advisory committee reviewed the vaccine for more than eight hours Thursday and voted overwhelmingly in favor of using it in people age 16 and up. It is unclear whether a decision on the vaccine on a Friday night would do anything to speed up the delivery of the first vaccine doses.

[DallasNE]

10. This Whole Process Has Been Working On A End Of December Timeline

The distribution and vaccination processes are set for an end of December roll-out. Having this approved today is meaningless in the sense of any large scale start of vaccinations. Meddling now will only mean more glitches to iron out. It is ill-advised to do this.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

11. I guess it's time for Hahn to sign out early for the weekend and head for the nearest bar,

where he and his colleagues can have happy hour. Or at least they can have a virtual happy hour over Teams. I mean, if his computer isn't immediately confiscated by secuity.

I've onto the FDA campus, once. It's literally beyond the Beltway. You go under the Beltway at Hillandale, Maryland, and keep going.

I was in Hillandale, and I wanted to get back to the Metrorail, pronto. Pro tip: just because a bus's signboard says "Silver Spring," that doesn't mean that it's taking a direct route. The one I had boarded didn't.

[central scrutinizer]

12. Nothing says leadership quite like

Doing nothing constructive for 10 months, not even attending meetings, then issuing threats, “get off your ass or I’ll fire you.”

[ancianita]

15. Nailed it.

My laugh of recognition

I needed that.

[AirmensMom]

14. And that will help ...

HOW? SMDH

I can't say what I'm thinking right now. But damn I wish this madness would end.

[986racer]

16. In fairness...

I'm sure that there is a lot of red tape that could be improved upon at the FDA. However, waiting until the very last minute to ask them to change that red tape is stupid and just undermines confidence. They could have had reviewed the process months ago to make sure it was streamlined as much as possible.

Then again... maybe it has been as streamlined as much as possible. It's hard to tell with this administration.

[BumRushDaShow]

19. The "red tape"

is in 21CFR - the set of volumes of regulations developed to comply with various laws passed by Congress going back to the 1906 Pure Food and Drug Act.

Food and Drug Law

Of course we could always go back to the "old days".

[uncle ray]

31. good god, is 21CFR a pain in my ass.

but a mostly necessary pain. i've been in med device manufacturing for only 2 decades. we've come light years in patient safety in that time, thanks to regulation.

[BumRushDaShow]

32. Used to take up a couple shelves with the hard copies

but is now an "eCFR".

[paleotn]

22. The only thing streamlined by this complete disaster of an administration

is how to get more tax dollars into Donnie's pocket. In their minds, streamlining is synonymous with "what's good for Donne." Nothing more. The rest of us can go die somewhere for all they care.

[C_U_L8R]

17. Yeah. Nothing reassures a jittery nation than making threats.

What a bunch of bloviating assclowns.

[Evolve Dammit]

18. Please haul this lunatic sociopath out of OUR house and Lock Him Up for observation. Seriously.

He ain't right and he's fucking killing us. Seems to be pretty happy doing so, I would add... Executions are keeping him amused as well. Sick fucker.

[paleotn]

20. Saving lives?

Is that a Donnie thing now? What about the hoax? Or no worse than the flu? I'm so confused.

[Midnight Writer]

21. For what it is worth, Stephen Hahn is publicly denying this story.

Of course, in this land of smoke and mirrors...

[bucolic_frolic]

23. What's the rush? Must be momentum for the bogus Election lawsuits

Expect a push for public demonstrations

[usaf-vet]

25. So what is this all about? tRump hasn't "killed" enough Americans through shear negligence......

..... by ignoring the expert advice of how to deal with the Covid pandemic?

So now he is willing to ignore FDA guidelines to ensure all the proper steps have been taken to release a new drug to the marketplace.

He is willing to chance possible dangerous side effects and possible loss of additional lives. So he can claim his delirious success of getting a Covid vaccine out.

How long before he tags it the tRump vaccine?

[TomDaisy]

26. ridiculous bullshit from the malicious super-spreader

[chriscan64]

27. Somewhere in his tiny pea brain

he thinks that if a vaccine comes out while he's in office, he gets the credit as if he did something. He also believed that if it came out the day before the election, it would garner him votes because, again, he think he gets the credit.

[Botany]

28. Sure why wait for that "science stuff?"

Trump and company are just assholes.

[SWBTATTReg]

29. Considering that these thugs thought this whole thing was a hoax at first (and probably still do)...

Trying to sidestep/force the FDA to abnormally approve this vaccine for use in such a manner leaves a lot to be desired. Thugs deserve to go to jail, their callous indifference to lives lost over the last year has revealed just how thuggish, how craven these despicable human beings are, starting with the one thug at the top, rump. I hope that they let the genies out of the bottle, and start the lawsuits galore once rump and his thugs are out of office. They'll never know a day of peace or rest...

[BlueWavePsych]

30. Unfortunately these theatrics aren't helping vaccine hesitancy.

[truthisfreedom]

33. It's tough being the world's biggest loser.

Hard row to hoe, eh Donnie?