Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL) has forwarded correspondence to eight potential COVID-19 vaccine providers, inquiring about maintaining scientific and data-based standards in the wake of possible political pressure.
Durbin sent letters to Moderna, AstraZeneca, Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Pfizer, Novavax, and Janssen, seeking a response to President Donald Trump indicating a vaccine would be ready by Election Day, public skepticism about the safety and efficacy of a potential vaccine, and undermined credibility in the vaccine approval process.
“Despite President Trump’s rosy outlook, our public health and biomedical experts have not projected such confidence in the timeline that the President seeks,” Durbin wrote. “Recent public surveys have indicated alarming levels of skepticism among the American public about taking a coronavirus vaccine if shortcuts were taken or if the approval was motivated by politics rather than science. Americans are eagerly seeking a safe and effective vaccine for COVID-19, and there has been significant and swift work to bring several vaccine candidates to clinical trials. To bolster public confidence in the integrity of the vaccine approval process, I request answers to the following questions from you by September 17, 2020.”
Specifically, Durbin asked what the plans are to reconcile the inconsistency between the projected timeline promoted by President Trump and the timeline projected by our officials at NIH, BARDA, and FDA for a COVID-19 vaccine candidate. He also inquired as to whether employees or representatives of the White House communicated with your company regarding your COVID-19 vaccine candidate, and if each company received any political pressure or incentive, outside of your contract agreements, regarding your vaccine candidate.