Russia claims to have a COVID-19 vaccine: calling Dr. Trump, snake oil salesman

Above Graphic: h/t Rawstory.com.

Business Insider reported, Trump aides believe the president has no hope of reelection without a COVID-19 vaccine, report says.

Salon reported, Will a COVID-19 vaccine be the “October surprise” that saves Trump’s re-election campaign?

Politico reported, Is Trump on track for an October vaccine surprise?

Even The Nation reported, Trump’s October Surprise: A Vaccine for Covid-19?

Are you sensing a theme here?

Dr. Anthony Fauci recently testified to Congress that the the U.S. needs to be careful to establish the safety and effectiveness of any potential coronavirus vaccine before rushing into production and distribution. Fauci, FDA Chief Vow Not to Rush Unsafe Vaccine. Dr. Fauci was seconded by director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and U.S. Food and Drug Administration chief Stephen Hahn, saying the FDA would not cut corners on safety and effectiveness when considering whether to approve a vaccine.

Riiight.

Over the weekend I caught in passing a story reported on I believe it was the CBS Evening News, but I could be mistaken, that Russia completes clinical trials and moves towards vaccine registration:

The Russian national research center that is developing a vaccine to combat covid-19 has finished clinical trials and will move on to its registration phase, the Russian Health Minister announced today.

“The vaccine against the new coronavirus developed by the National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Gamalei has completed clinical trials and we are now preparing documents for registration,” said Mikhail Murashko, quoted by the TASS agency.

The Russian minister said doctors and teachers will receive the first doses of the vaccine.

The Health Minister expects to receive “next month and a half or two months” two new applications for authorization to carry out clinical trials of new vaccines, with a view to an extended vaccination campaign to begin in October.

Dr. Anthony Fauci is skeptical: On Friday, the main United States epidemiologist, Anthony Fauci, said he hoped that China and Russia “are really testing” vaccines developed to combat covid-19 “before delivering them to anyone.”

To be certain, US says it is unlikely to use China, Russia virus vaccine as race heats up: “US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said it was impossible his country would use any vaccine developed in either country, where regulatory systems are far more opaque than they are in the West.”

Impossible?

Calling Dr. Trump, snake oil salesman of the miracle elixir hydroxychloroquine, Fauci: Hydroxychloroquine ‘Is Not Effective’ In Treating COVID-19, and injecting disinfectant into your body or shining a UV flashlight up your ass, and promoter of witch doctor Stella Immanuel, who believes in alien DNA and the physical effects of having sex with witches and demons in your dreams, may have other plans. (You can’t make this shit up).

I would not be surprised to soon learn that Putin’s puppet has asked his buddy Vlad for a batch of some sweet Russian vaccine to “do me a favor” with the election, and the U.S. troop withdrawal from NATO forces may have been the quid pro quo.

Now, you can dismiss this is far-fetched, but after everything else we have seen with Donald Trump, can you really be certain? Nothing is too crazy to believe with this guy.

The Hill reports that Experts fear political pressure on COVID-19 vaccine:

Public health experts are raising red flags that the Trump administration could exert political pressure on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to approve a COVID-19 vaccine before one is ready.

President Trump, searching for a political win just over three months from the election, has latched onto the push for developing a vaccine in record time and promoted it in a number of recent appearances.

Trump spoke optimistically of the prospects for a vaccine during a visit to a biotech facility in North Carolina on Monday, despite experts cautioning one may not be widely available for another year.

The president made similar comments Thursday, touting progress without dwelling on the fact that more than 150,000 Americans have died due to the pandemic, a massive toll higher than any other country’s.

“We are way ahead on vaccines, way ahead on therapeutics. And when we have it, we’re all set up with our platforms to deliver them very, very quickly,” Trump said during a White House press conference. “We’re all set to deliver them as soon as we have them, and that’s going to be very soon.”

The president has sought to take credit for “Operation Warp Speed,” the administration’s multibillion-dollar effort to fund the development and distribution of potential vaccines for COVID-19 and have them available as soon as they are found to be safe and effective.

The administration has been buoyed by some early success reports from top vaccine candidates, and political officials have confidently predicted a shot will be available before the end of the year.

Anthony Fauci, the country’s top infectious disease doctor, said Friday he is “cautiously optimistic” a vaccine will be ready by the end of 2020 and be widely distributed next year.

Sorry, Tony, that’s not fast enough for “The Donald.” While there is almost no chance a vaccine will be ready for widespread distribution before Election Day in early November, Trump’s buddy Vlad may convince him otherwise. Trump believes everything else Vlad tells him, so why not a Russian vaccine?

Researchers and experts said they are worried Trump could seize on those early results to pressure public health agencies into approving a vaccine before it is ready.

“You saw the issue of politicization around hydroxychloroquine and the pressure that was put on FDA then. There’s a legitimate concern that does not happen again,” said Jesse Goodman, a Georgetown University professor who was previously FDA’s chief scientific officer.

Many outside observers felt the FDA bowed to political pressure earlier this year when the agency issued an emergency authorization for hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug that Trump, his allies and members of his administration have continued to tout as a miracle cure for COVID-19 despite evidence.

Rick Bright, an agency whistleblower, made similar accusations and said he lost his job for objecting to the drug’s widespread promotion.

The FDA later revoked the authorization.

In another instance, the White House reportedly pressured the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to change its guidance on reopening schools in order to emphasize the importance of kids going to school while downplaying any potential risks.

Goodman said even if there is no political pressure on a COVID-19 vaccine, there’s still “a legitimate problem in public perception” because of the administration’s past actions in other areas of the crisis.

An ABC News/Washington Post poll released in July found that more than half the country distrusts Trump while six in 10 Americans disapprove of his handling of the virus outbreak overall.

A separate poll released this week found that 64 percent favor fully testing any potential vaccine, even if doing so delays its release and allows the disease to potentially spread further.

Health experts warn about the danger of a widespread portion of the population rejecting a vaccine once one is available.

Top administration officials are working hard to reassure the public that they will not be cutting any corners.

“Data and science. Those are what’s going to guide us,” FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said during a recent interview with the Journal of the American Medical Association. “We cannot have a situation where people lose trust in the FDA and the clinical trials process.”

Hahn said the FDA’s decisions have worldwide implications, beyond just a COVID-19 vaccine.

“America and the world’s public trust in FDA is really important. It’s worth a lot because people depend upon us every day in their lives, and we just cannot do anything that would break that trust, and that’s a solemn promise,” Hahn said.

FDA guidance requires any vaccine approved to be at least 50 percent more effective than a placebo in preventing the disease, among other criteria.

Drug executives have said they do not believe the FDA would lower its standards for approval.

Oh really?

[A] potential workaround exists: the agency could issue an emergency use authorization, which requires less rigorous data than a full approval, as soon as officials are convinced a vaccine is safe and effective.

Donald Trump is always looking for legal loopholes to run through.

“I don’t think emergency use authorization should be trivialized on very limited data, and I think the data need to be spelled out to people,” Goodman said.

See above: “the FDA bowed to political pressure earlier this year when the agency issued an emergency authorization for hydroxychloroquine,” which was later revoked by the FDA. What makes anyone think Trump won’t go back to the well again? When he gets away with something, he does it again.

Amesh Adalja, a senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Health Security, said he thinks there are enough outside players involved that the Trump administration would be hard-pressed to push a vaccine based on limited evidence.

“My confidence is not in the White House managing this, but in the pharmaceutical companies that have delivered hundreds and millions of doses of vaccines for many different problems over time,” Adjala said.

Still, he said public skepticism will be hard to overcome.

“If politicians get involved in vaccine decisionmaking, that is going to be tainted, because everything that politicians have touched so far in this pandemic has been compromised by their involvement in it,” Adjala said.

“This is not a place that politicians really need to insert themselves. This is a medical decision between doctors and patients.”

Oh, you must not have met Dr. Trump, snake oil salesman and self-proclaimed “stable genius.” This guy is the Wylie E. Coyote of American politics.