My How Things Have Changed | Right Wing Granny

On September 1, 2020, CNN posted an article titled, “Past vaccine disasters show why rushing a coronavirus vaccine now would be ‘colossally stupid’.” Wow.

The article reports:

Vaccine experts are warning the federal government against rushing out a coronavirus vaccine before testing has shown it’s both safe and effective. Decades of history show why they’re right.

Their concern that the FDA may be moving too quickly heightened when FDA Commissioner Dr. Steven Hahn told the Financial Times that his agency could consider an emergency use authorization (EUA) for a Covid-19 vaccine before late stage clinical trials are complete if the data show strong enough evidence it would protect people.

The commissioner has the authority to allow unapproved medical products to be used in an emergency when there are no adequate or approved alternatives. An EUA is not the same as full approval and it can be withdrawn.

The article reports:

Markel (Dr. Howard Markel, a pediatrician, distinguished professor, and director of the Center for the History of Medicine at the University of Michigan) said people’s mistrust of the system makes the idea that the FDA would rush this process before late stage clinical trials are complete “colossally stupid.”

“This is one of the most ridiculous things I’ve heard this administration say,” Markel said. “All it takes is one bad side effect to basically botch a vaccine program that we desperately need against this virus. It’s a prescription for disaster.”

FDA Commissioner Hahn said that the vaccine decision will be based on data, not politics, but Kinch (Michael Kinch, a professor of radiation oncology in the school of medicine at Washington University in St. Louis) shares Markel’s concern.

“This could do substantial damage,” Kinch said. Kinch, who is a patient in one of the vaccine trials himself, said the clinical trial process needs to be followed to the end. A too-early EUA for a vaccine could cause a “nightmare scenario,” for a few reasons.

One, the vaccine may not be safe. Two, if it is not safe, people will lose faith in vaccines. Three, if a vaccine doesn’t offer complete protection, people will have a false sense of security and increase their risk. Four, if a substandard vaccine gets an EUA, a better vaccine may never get approval, because people would be reluctant to enroll in trials and risk getting a placebo instead of a vaccine.

“People are going to die unnecessarily if we take chances with this,” Kinch said. “We’ve got to get this right.”

If you notice that this is an unusual point of view from CNN, look at the date of the article–it was posted when Donald Trump was President. The mainstream media did everything it could to undermine the vaccine and question its effectiveness. The irony is that they were actually right–there are legitimate questions about the vaccine’s effectiveness and safety. However, I posted this article so that people would see the contrast between what the media was saying then and the media’s current support of vaccine mandates. Unfortunately the coronavirus is political. It has been from the start.