Tag Archives: vaccine testing

Profit Over People — Again

Posted on by under Election 2020, Environmental Issues, Global Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Social commentary

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 3rd.  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.

A Dangerous ‘Promise’

Posted on by under Environmental Issues, Law and justice, Political commentary, Social commentary

Donald Trump makes lots and lots of ‘promises’ that he cannot keep about things over which he has little or no control.  He promised to “drain the swamp”, but brought in bigger, nastier alligators than we had ever seen before.  He promised to “build a wall” and that “Mexico will pay for it”.  Well, there are bits and pieces of a wall along the southern border, already proven easily scalable, and YOU paid for what’s been built so far, while Mexico sat back and laughed.  He promised to “make America great again”, but has only increased the divisiveness that already existed, driven off our allies, cozied up to dictators, caused the further destruction of the environment, botched the response to the coronavirus, increased racial tensions, and … well, you get the idea.  Thus far he has bungled every promise he made in one way or another, and frankly most of his promises were not things that would enhance our lives anyway.  His latest promise, though, has medical experts concerned.

In May, in one of his “Rose Garden press conferences”, he promised that a vaccine for the coronavirus would be ready by the end of the year.  This, despite the fact that nearly all the medical experts are saying that it’s a pipe dream.  The fear now, though, is that Trump will force rushed testing in order to push through his ‘promise’, which could be disastrous.  We could end up with a vaccine that doesn’t work, or one with devastating side effects.  Obviously, since Trump has made it perfectly clear that our lives do not matter to him, he won’t care, just so long as he looks like a hero to his base and wins the election on November 3rd.

Two professors at the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel and Dr. Paul A. Offit wrote an OpEd in the New York Times on June 8th, where they imagined this scenario:

Oct. 23, 2020, 9 a.m., with 10 days before the election, Fox New releases a poll showing President Trump trailing Joe Biden by eight percentage points.

Oct. 23, 2020, 3 p.m., at a hastily convened news conference, President Trump announces that the Food and Drug Administration has just issued an Emergency Use Authorization for a coronavirus vaccine. Mr. Trump declares victory over Covid-19, demands that all businesses reopen immediately and predicts a rapid economic recovery.

Far-fetched?  Hardly.  Given Trump’s self-dealing and his lack of both intellect and empathy, I can certainly envision that happening.  And perhaps millions of people rushing to take the vaccine, without any guarantee of its effectiveness.  And, in a few years or less, I can picture a rash of new cancer cases or people suddenly losing their hair or having debilitating muscle spasms or brain tumours, all because the vaccine wasn’t well-tested.

Pharmaceutical companies such as Pfizer and Astra Zeneca are planning to move forward with human (guinea pig) testing in July and August, as is the National Institute of Health (NIH).  They plan to recruit tens of thousands of volunteers (guinea pigs) on whom they will test the vaccine, but results will take many more months before the vaccine can be marketed to the public.  And where will these volunteers (guinea pigs) come from?  Would you volunteer?  I sure as hell wouldn’t.  According to Dr. Fauci, it will likely take months to line up the volunteers (guinea pigs), and then medical experts say it will be between 8-12 months before the efficiency of the vaccine can be determined.  The effectiveness trial for the rotavirus vaccines took about four years and the human papillomavirus vaccine studies to prevent cervical cancer took seven years.

Would Trump be able to force a drug company and the NIH to claim a vaccine was effective before they were comfortable doing so?  Well, remember last month when top vaccine official Rick Bright was demoted because he tried to “prioritize science and safety over political expediency” and raised health concerns over a drug repeatedly pushed by President Trump as a possible cure for coronavirus.  Today, the FDA revoked the use of the drug, hydroxychloroquine, for emergency treatment of coronavirus patients, saying that “it is no longer reasonable to believe” that the drug has any effect on the coronavirus, but it is known to have serious side effects in some patients.

And remember how he has been purging the administration of those whose jobs was to provide oversight?  And remember how he’s planning a big rally in Tulsa on Saturday and telling people not to wear masks?  So yeah, Trump would try anything.  After all, come late October all he needs is a short-term fix … an October Surprise … just enough to boost his polls through November 3rd.  After the election, any vaccine can be recalled, scrapped, or people can start dying and he won’t care.  He only cares about one thing:  winning.  For himself, not for you or I.

Trump-Wants-You