Biden Campaign Demands Proof Trump Won’t Politicize Vaccine
Biden Campaign Demands Proof Trump Won’t Politicize Vaccine
(Bloomberg) -- The Biden campaign worked to sow doubt Tuesday about the Trump administration’s ability to keep politics out of a coronavirus vaccine rollout, saying the president routinely overstates progress and likes to punish political opponents.
“The concern they have is that Donald Trump could end up moving this process in a way that undermines the credibility of the vaccine and that will set our country back,” Jake Sullivan, a senior policy adviser to the campaign, said on a call with reporters about the concerns of Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Kamala Harris.
The Biden campaign, echoing concerns by public health experts that the President Donald Trump will pressure the Food and Drug Administration to approve a vaccine before the Nov. 3 election, offered three questions it said the White House should answer about the vaccine approval and distribution process.
Campaign advisers asked the administration to release the criteria that will be used to ensure a Covid-19 vaccine meets the scientific standard of safety and efficacy, who will assure that decisions are driven by science and not politics and what the plan will be to allocate and distribute the vaccine “cost-free, safely, equitably and without politics.”
“Given the president’s track record, these are the questions that have to be asked,” Symone Sanders, a senior adviser to Biden, said.
Fears about political influence were heightened after Trump claimed without evidence that the “deep state” was slowing the approval of a vaccine. As a result, FDA leaders are insulating the agency’s vaccine reviewers from political pressure by closely adhering to the June guidelines it set for approving a vaccine, Bloomberg News reported Tuesday.
Nine drug companies also issued a joint pledge on Tuesday that they would not put forward a vaccine until it had be vetted for safety and efficacy.
“We believe this pledge will help ensure public confidence in the rigorous scientific and regulatory process by which Covid-19 vaccines are evaluated and may ultimately be approved,” the companies said.
Biden and Harris are seizing the chance to portray Trump as a president eager to use the vaccine to boost his re-election chances.
On Monday, Biden told reporters he would listen to scientists before getting a vaccine.
“One of the problems with the way he’s playing with politics is he’s said so many things that aren’t true I’m worried if we do have a really good vaccine, people are going to be reluctant to take it,” he said about Trump.
Still, Biden said he wants a vaccine made available as quickly and safely as possible.
“If I could get a vaccine tomorrow I’d do it,” he said. “If it cost me the election I’d do it. We need a vaccine and we need it now.”
Trump and his allies have slammed the Democrats for expressing hesitation about vaccines, calling Biden’s comments “political lies.”
“The vaccine will be very safe and very effective,” the president said Monday. “And it’ll be delivered very soon. Now, you could -- you could have a very big surprise coming up.”
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