Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Donald Trump has often pushed for cures or vaccines and made remarks about how vaccines would be available within the year despite experts’ advice on when it could be done. This time, Trump has ripped into the Food and Drug Administration for supposedly delaying the release of COVID-19 vaccines that have yet to be proven safe.
Business Insider reports Trump attacked the FDA on Twitter, accusing the agency of delaying the release of possible COVID-19 vaccines to Americans. Trump referred to the term “deep state” in his tweet, tagging the FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn as well.
“The deep state or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics. Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives! @SteveFDA,” tweeted the president.
Contrary to Trump’s claims, there has been no proof that the FDA is delaying COVID-19 vaccines or treatments. The tweet follows the remarks made by an FDA official, who pledged that he would step down from his post if the Trump administration tried to distribute a COVID-19 vaccine that has yet to be proven safe and effective. Health experts such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, have also stated that a safe vaccine would likely not be available until December. Michael Caputo of Health and Human Services also stated that a safe and effective vaccine for COVID-19 may not be available until January 2021.
Some experts have also raised concerns about Trump specifying that a COVID-19 vaccine that has yet to be proven safe and effective would be released by the administration in time for the November elections. Trump is currently running for reelection as president.
Meanwhile, Trump’s often-used social media platform, Twitter, has clamped down on misinformation by the president again. Twitter has flagged another tweet from Trump, citing that the president was making “misleading health claims” that aim to discourage Americans from voting.
In the flagged tweets, Trump claimed that the mail drop boxes for voting are not sanitized from COVID-19 along with the claim that these would lead to “voter security disaster,” once again repeating his claims that mail-in voting would immediately lead to voter fraud.
Scientists who saw the misleading tweets pointed out that no one can catch COVID-19 from touching a mail drop box for ballots. They also note that people can sanitize their hands by washing or using hand sanitizer after touching any objects.