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Comment by selimthegrim | Hacker News Reader

The point was if he rushed it. The companies delayed their announcement and strengthened the trials so the current Trumpista favorite argument would in theory lose steam.

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>The companies delayed their announcement and strengthened the trials so the current Trumpista favorite argument would in theory lose steam.

They [Pfizer] delayed the announcement to three days after the elections. I'm sure those three days were critical in testing and making the vaccine safe for the consumer./s

It was an obvious political move to deny back-then US president Trump a public success as a consequence from him enacting "Operation Warp Speed".[0][1][2]

Also, "Trumpista"? You must feel really clever and enlightened.

[0] https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/video/2020/nov/20/trump-...

[1] https://outline.com/bH8vBM

[2] https://jewishjournal.com/news/314659/biden-is-backed-by-bot...

I live in New Orleans where unvaccinated cases are exploding and people in surrounding areas specifically cite Democrats as a reason not to take the vaccine. I’ll stand by my words. And I’m not fan of Pfizer trying to make vaccine policy by press release but didn’t one of the companies turn down Warp Speed money to avoid this perception?

All of the vaccines used in the US received funding through Operation Warp Speed. J&J and Moderna got R&D money and production orders. Pfizer only got production orders.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Warp_Speed?wprov=sfl...

No. They didn't want Trump to have that "win." It was purely political. The vaccines they are pushing now are the very same ones that were developed and tested while Trump was in office.

Do you think if they had announced before the election and Trump had won all the current recalcitrants would be lining up in droves to take it, their concerns about rushing assuaged?

All of them? No.

I think some on the left would refuse it because Trump.

I think some on the right would accept it because Trump.

I think some would still be hesitant because their concerns with the vaccines are not political.

It certainly wasn't purely political. It was based on the idea that the decision to approve the vaccine is the job of the FDA and that they have to pass their safety and effectiveness verdict.

The US FDA was among the first world-wide to approve (Europe was months later) which in my mind shows that there is not much to an argument that political forces delayed the announcement (and how could the opposition / democrats influence a government institution such as the FDA if the ruling party couldn't? Please no deep state bonkers).

> The vaccines they are pushing now are the very same ones that were developed and tested while Trump was in office.

I would challenge that Trump should receive any political credit for supporting the development of the vaccines, because when the development was happening at Moderna (US) and BionTech (Germany) in spring 2020 Trump was still rejecting SARS-COV-19 as irrelevant. Trump should receive credit for Warpspeed that made sure the production of the developed vaccines is happening and is happening in a way that benefits the American people first (to great frustration to many Europeans).

>It was based on the idea that the decision to approve the vaccine is the job of the FDA and that they have to pass their safety and effectiveness verdict.

You can't claim they were just following the rules, because they weren't. They bended and broke whatever rules they saw fit to get the vaccine done, including doing multiple phases simultaneously. If the FDA were following the rules, we still wouldn't have a vaccine available, because they still don't have full FDA approval.

>Trump was still rejecting SARS-COV-19 as irrelevant

Trump was called racist by Congressional D's for wanting to shut down the international travel to prevent the spread in February.

The US FDA was among the first world-wide to approve (Europe was months later)

UK MHRA: Dec 2. US FDA: Dec 11. European EMA/EC: Dec 21. Months later? Hyperbole doesn't help your argument.

I got misled by parent. I knew that Biontech had received EU approval in December but from parents comment understood that in the US the approval came shortly after the elections. Sorry.

Still: don't you think the argument holds: US FDA is one of the first to approve is a sign that there can't be much delay.

Would you agree that if Trump thought the vaccine was delayed to make him look bad we'd hear him shouting it from the rooftops?

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