Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump's 'Deep State' Claim Puts More Pressure On FDA; Experts Call It 'Baseless'
President Donald Trump on Saturday accused, without providing any evidence, the US Food and Drug Administration of deliberately delaying coronavirus vaccine trials, pressuring the man he had picked to head the agency... He accused the agency of delaying a vaccine for the virus until after the fall election, tweeting, "Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives!" Trump ended his tweet by tagging the Twitter account of FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn, who he nominated last year to take up the role. (Stracqualursi, 8/23)
President Trump on Saturday accused the 鈥渄eep state鈥 at the Food and Drug Administration of making it hard for drug companies to test coronavirus treatments -- and suggested聽the agency is trying to delay them until after Election Day. 鈥淭he deep state, or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics,鈥 he tweeted. 鈥淥bviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives!鈥 (Shaw, 8/23)
Senior health officials in the Trump administration were taken aback last Monday when the president's trade adviser, Peter Navarro, accused them of being part of the "Deep State" during a meeting that was supposed to be about COVID-19 and the Strategic National Stockpile. Why it matters: Five days after Navarro's private comments toward the FDA, the president echoed Navarro's sentiments with a pair of Saturday morning tweets and tagged Stephen Hahn, the head of the Food and Drug Administration. (Swan, 8/23)
President Donald Trump is leveling unfounded attacks on his Food and Drug Administration and distorting the science on effective treatments for COVID-19. Heading this week into the Republican National Convention, he asserted that the agency is slow-walking vaccines and treatments for the coronavirus in a bid to undermine his November reelection effort. There鈥檚 no evidence of that, and one of his former FDA commissioners on Sunday rejected the accusation as groundless. (Yen and Woodward, 8/23)
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) bashed President Trump on Saturday after he urged the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to expedite the approval of coronavirus treatments, warning that the president was undermining public safety to help his reelection."The FDA has a responsibility to approve drugs, judging on their safety and their efficacy, not by a declaration from the White House about speed and politicizing the FDA," Pelosi said during a rare Saturday press briefing in the Capitol. (Lillis, 8/22)
Democrats came after President Trump on Saturday after he called the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the "deep state," with one critic saying the president's "lies and recklessness" have "killed people." "Since the start of the pandemic I have repeatedly called on the FDA to follow science and data alone in approving covid treatments and聽... reject trump's dangerous 'miracle' cures," Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) tweeted on Saturday in response to Trump. (Deese, 8/22)
The president鈥檚 claim that the FDA is delaying clinical trials for the coronavirus vaccine for political reasons is his way of making some at the agency 鈥渇eel the heat鈥 and push forward, White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said Sunday. President Donald Trump tweeted Saturday morning that the 鈥渄eep state鈥 at the Food and Drug Administration 鈥渋s making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics.鈥 (Bice, 8/23)
In a tweet Saturday morning, President Donald Trump accused the Food and Drug Administration of delaying the development of coronavirus vaccines and drugs. 鈥淭he deep state, or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics,鈥 the president wrote.聽 鈥淥bviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives!鈥 (Herper and Florko, 8/22)
President Trump on Saturday baselessly accused the Food and Drug Administration of impeding enrollment in clinical trials for coronavirus vaccines and therapeutics for political reasons, as he broadened and escalated his attacks on administration scientists. 鈥淭he deep state, or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics,鈥 he said on Twitter. 鈥淥bviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives!鈥 He tagged FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn in the tweet. (McGinley, Johnson and Dawsey, 8/22)
The Trump administration will allow coronavirus tests developed by individual laboratories to be used without聽Food and Drug Administration (FDA) review, the administration announced Wednesday.聽Officials told Politico聽and聽The Washington Post that the decision came after the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) determined the FDA does not have the authority to regulate lab-developed tests for any condition, including COVID-19. (Moreno, 8/21)