The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) exists for a reason, as do other government agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Centers for Disease Control and Protection (CDC).  The reason for all three of these agencies is the health and safety of the people in this nation … the people around the world.  And yet, all three of these agencies have been criticized and shackled by Donald Trump during his time in office, and the health of the nation has suffered.

The latest in a series of poor decisions that may prove lethal to the people in this country is that the FDA proposed stricter guidelines for emergency approval of a coronavirus vaccine, but Trump & Co are rejecting them.  Now, I don’t know about you folks, but I’m not about to be injected with some chemicals that have not been thoroughly tested and for which the side effects and long-term effects are not fully known.  Not gonna happen.

There is some debate as to why Trump & Co are attempting to block the FDA guidelines.  One reason, the most obvious, is that the additional testing requirements would make the release of any vaccine impossible before election day, and Donnie is counting on that being the boost his failing campaign needs to push past Joe Biden on November 3^rd.  But, according to administration officials, there is another reason:  the pharmaceutical industry objected.  Now, I have enough issues already with the pharmaceutical guys, for they have made it impossible for many of us to afford the life-saving medications we need.  And now this.

It is the job of government, from the president down to the lowliest clerk, to do what is in the best interest of We the People.  Pandering to an industry to put corporate profits over the lives of people is simply NOT acceptable.  Our lives should matter more than the profits of robber baron CEOs … but they don’t, at least not to the people running the show up in Washington.  There appears to be no conscience left in the ‘Trump administration’, and yet we keep paying them to shoot us in the foot.

We’re not going to change Trump & Co.  If anything were going to change the megalomaniac in the Oval Office, one would think it would have been his own experience with the coronavirus, but no … that seems to have made him into an even bigger jerk than he was before, with not a care for our well-being, telling us that the virus is no big deal, to get on with the business of socializing, shopping, and boosting ‘his’ economy.

The tragedy is that if a vaccine is hastily brought to market before or even after election day, it may well cause more problems than it solves.  At the very least, it may cause problems for people with underlying conditions, and at the worst, it may cause cancer a year down the road.  The only vaccine I would trust at this point is one developed far from the shores of the U.S. by reliable scientists and approved by the World Health Organization (WHO).

For all we know, the vaccine Trump is hoping for might be made of peanut butter and lemon juice.  It doesn’t even have to work against the coronavirus … there only needs to be a perception that it will work, just long enough to get past the election, and then … Trump really won’t care anymore, but will wash his hands of it when people start dying not from the virus, but rather from the vaccine.  He will blame it on … somebody … anybody … possibly even the FDA for not putting out stronger guidelines!  Nothing should surprise us anymore.

Fortunately, the FDA is fighting back … sort of.  According to the New York Times …

Facing a White House blockade, the Food and Drug Administration is seeking other avenues to ensure that vaccines meet the guidelines. That includes sharing the standards — perhaps as soon as this week — with an outside advisory committee of experts that is supposed to meet publicly before any vaccine is authorized for emergency use. The hope is that the committee will enforce the guidelines, regardless of the White House’s reaction.

When a government is not working for the vast majority of the people – and this one is not – then it’s time to throw them all out and start over.  Our very lives depend on electing a president, senators and representatives who possess a conscience, who care about all the people of this nation, not just the few wealthy ones.