President Donald Trump has accused the drug industry of playing politics when it comes to the coronavirus – and very specifically of doing so to hurt him at the polls.
Now, one major company’s confession shows he might have a point about what he called the “medical deep state.”
Pfizer unveiled its stunning vaccine results, which found the shot to be 90 percent effective, just days after the election, and announced it could go into distribution in the United States by next month.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, not exactly known for his sweeping optimism, not only hailed the breakthrough but insisted every American could be vaccinated by early spring.
Trump, however, questioned the timing:
The @US_FDA and the Democrats didn’t want to have me get a Vaccine WIN, prior to the election, so instead it came out five days later – As I’ve said all along!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 10, 2020
It might seem like paranoia… except Pfizer went to great pains to distance itself from Trump as much as possible after the announcement.
Pfizer claimed the U.S. government – and, by extension, the Trump administration – had nothing to do with the success.
“We were never part of the Warp Speed,” Pfizer vice president Kathrin Jansen told the New York Times, referring to the incredible public-private partnership to deliver a vaccine in record time. “We have never taken any money from the U.S. government, or from anyone.”
Except minutes later, the company had to backtrack and admit Trump’s effort played a major role in this success, especially the government’s $1.95 billion commitment to buy the vaccine if it was successful.
That commitment alone – part of Operation Warp Speed – amounted to money in the bank, assuming Pfizer delivered a working shot.
As a result, Pfizer’s initial denial of taking part in the program left Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar bewildered.
“I don’t know why they made that [statement] originally,” he said on CNBC. “I’ve got a $2 billion contract for 100 million doses and an option for 500 million more that says they’re very much part of Operation Warp Speed.”
And the feds also helped out in other key areas.
“We assisted them with ingredients, we’re assisting them with distribution syringes, needles, dry ice for shipment, distribution, planning,” he added.
There is, however, a small nugget of truth to the company’s initial denials: They didn’t take direct government money for the development of the vaccine itself, as other companies have.
CEO Albert Bourla said it was to liberate both the company and its scientists.
“When you get money from someone, that always comes with strings,” he told CBS. “They want to see how we are growing to progress, what types of moves you are going to do. They want reports. I didn’t want to have any of that.”
ICYMI: Why is @Pfizer financing #Covid19 #vaccine development on its own – instead of accepting government funding? $PFE CEO Albert Bourla says “I wanted to liberate our scientists from any bureaucracy. When you get money from someone…that always comes with strings.” pic.twitter.com/t2IQPP9Wn4
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) September 13, 2020
But as Azar’s statements prove, it’s simply not true that they were free of government money.
Pfizer’s results are the first of a series of expected announcements, with about a dozen different vaccine candidates now in critical phase 3 clinical trials, which are the large-scale studies used to determine if a shot works, if it’s safe, and if it should be approved.
And many of them… such as the vaccines from Moderna and Johnson & Johnson now in advanced phases, potentially available by the end of the year… have all taken part in the federal government’s unprecedented Warp Speed effort.
If several vaccines are effective, quick and efficient distribution – a federal effort that will involve the military handling logistics to ensure efficiency – could mean an even swifter program, with the shot reaching people even more quickly than Dr. Fauci anticipated.
— Walter W. Murray is a reporter for The Horn News. He is an outspoken conservative and a survival expert, and is the author of “America’s Final Warning.”