Faced with the pandemic of COVID-19 the Trump administration has done everything wrong and tens of thousands of people have died as a result.
- Trump suppressed information about the threat of the pandemic.
- He lied about the dangers of the virus.
- He refused to allow use of the test that would have identified early cases.
- He failed to provide protective equipment for medical staff.
- He seized tools states had ordered to fight the disease.
- He promotes ineffective and dangerous treatments.
- He is inciting his followers to resist the only measures that have protected them: social distancing, masks and economic shutdowns.
Every action Trump has taken has killed or will kill more people. So why is he doing it? Because Trump doesn’t care about the threat of the virus; he only cares about the perception of the virus. Given the choice between preventing people from getting sick or falsely assuring people they won’t get sick he picks lying every time.
I OPPOSE any effort to develop a vaccine “at warp speed.”
But all that may pale in comparison to the next effort Trump is touting — developing a vaccine “at warp speed.” We could develop a safe vaccine for COVID-19 slowly or we could quickly develop a vaccine that might be deadly.
It’s not a theoretical risk. It has happened before. In 1976, faced with the looming threat of a particularly virulent form of swine flu, President Gerald Ford rushed a vaccine into production and insisted on releasing it immediately. The result: more people were harmed by complications from the vaccine than from the flu.
Emergency legislation for the “National Swine Flu Immunization Program” was signed … on April 15th, 1976 and six months later high profile photos of celebrities and political figures receiving the flu jab appeared in the media. Even President Ford himself was photographed in his office receiving his shot from the White House doctor.
Within 10 months, nearly 25% of the US population, or 45 million citizens were vaccinated …
But the vaccine wasn’t safe. Over 450 people were paralyzed temporarily or permanently by reactions to the vaccine. The worst part was that the swine flu turned out to be less of a threat than the vaccine designed to prevent it.
Why did the debacle occur?
Ford was facing a tough re-election campaign that fall (one he subsequently lost) and he feared the impact of an epidemic on his electoral prospects. He was more concerned with producing a vaccine quickly than producing it safely.
Sound familiar?
I am a passionate advocate of vaccines and I know that the only solution to the current pandemic is a vaccine. Nonetheless, I OPPOSE any effort to develop a vaccine “at warp speed.” We MUST ensure the vaccine is safe and the ONLY way to do that is to test it over time.
We can have a safe vaccine or a rapidly developed vaccine. We can’t have both. We must demand a safe vaccine!
