Azar Says Biden Transition Delay Won’t Hamper Vaccination Plan
Azar Says Biden Transition Delay Won’t Hamper Vaccination Plan
(Bloomberg) -- President Donald Trump’s health secretary expects Pfizer Inc. and Moderna Inc. to apply “any day now” for government approval of their coronavirus vaccine candidates, and he downplayed the likelihood that wrangling over the election outcome will delay distribution.
Trump has refused to concede defeat to President-elect Joe Biden, which has stalled the formal transition process -- raising fears that the vaccination program could be hindered.
“The distribution planning is being done by career officials at CDC, on Operation Warp Speed, at the Defense Department, these are people whose roles don’t change,” Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said in a Bloomberg Radio interview. “I don’t think anything is at risk from potential government transitions here.”
The nation’s largest associations of hospitals, doctors and nurses on Tuesday called for the Trump administration to immediately share information on its coronavirus programs with Biden’s team to prevent any lapses as the government’s leadership changes.
The transition can only begin when the General Services Administration, which is led by a Trump appointee who has sided with the president in previous disputes, acknowledges Biden as the winner. She has not yet done so, as Trump continues to contest his losses in several states.
Azar said that the Pfizer and Moderna applications, once submitted, will trigger a Food and Drug Administration review. He declined to say how long that would take but said the administration hopes to have 40 million doses available in December between both companies.
“I can’t predict when FDA would rule on them, I can assure you FDA will act as expeditiously as possible,” Azar said.
The two drugmakers have said their vaccines are better than 90% effective at preventing Covid-19, according to preliminary data. And Moderna said Monday that among the handful of vaccinated test subjects who became infected, none were severely ill.
“It’s hard to overstate how historic these results are, it’s a dream come true,” Azar said.
An FDA emergency use authorization, or EUA, could be used to vaccinate “hundreds of millions” of people before a full approval is issued. He said the private sector distribution system will be used to send vaccines on a per-capita basis to states and territories, supported by logistical help at the Defense Department.
“We certainly are hopeful that we will begin vaccination campaigns in our most vulnerable individuals in December, with the approximately 40 million doses of vaccine across those two manufacturers that we think we should have available in the month of December,” Azar said.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.