White House chief of staff Mark Meadows hinted to Food and Drug Administration commissioner Stephen Hahn on a phone call Friday that his job security might be in jeopardy as he pushed the FDA chief to approve Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine by the end of the day, according to two sources familiar with the call.
Why it matters: It’s one more example of the White House putting political pressure on the FDA to expedite its green light on a coronavirus vaccine.
On Twitter Friday, President Trump pressured the agency publicly as well. He called it “a big, old, slow turtle,” and demanded: “Get the dam vaccines out NOW, Dr. Hahn @SteveFDA. Stop playing games and start saving lives!!!”
– In a statement, Hahn called the account “an untrue representation of the phone call with the Chief of Staff. The FDA was encouraged to continue working expeditiously on Pfizer-BioNTech’s EUA request. FDA is committed to issuing this authorization quickly, as we noted in our statement this morning.”
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Confirming WaPo — Mark Meadows hinted to Food and Drug Administration commissioner Stephen Hahn on a phone call Friday that his job security might be in jeopardy as he pushed the FDA chief to approve Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine by the end of the day. https://t.co/4sjqzLvDM3
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) December 11, 2020
This is *exactly* the kind of thing that people like me – and yes, Kamala Harris – were worried about. Mark Meadows needs to put the phone down and go stop his crazy boss from destroying democracy. Let the scientists do their job. https://t.co/up6au56ogD
— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) December 11, 2020
Wasn’t going to get the vaccine right away anyway because I already had doubts about the vaccine’s safety. That Trump and his lackey Meadows pressured the FDA to rush this vaccine through confirms for me that my decision to wait is the right one.
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