Posted by Michael Wonder on 27 Aug 2020
Trump has launched an all-out attack on the FDA. Will its scientific integrity survive?
27 August 2020 - President Trump has instigated an all-out crusade against the FDA at a critical point in the federal government’s fight against COVID-19.
Three senior FDA officials and several outside experts told STAT that Trump’s attacks threaten to permanently damage the agency’s credibility — especially when combined with a disastrous series of public misstatements on Sunday from Stephen Hahn, the cancer doctor who became FDA commissioner in December.
Beyond long-term concerns, these officials expressed a more immediate fear: that political incentives could interfere with approval decisions surrounding a COVID-19 vaccine, which Trump has repeatedly suggested could come before the 3 November election.
