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Saturday 12 december 2020

White House threatens FDA chief’s job over vaccine approval

Continued from Front review tens of thousands of
pages of Pfizer's applica-
"The last thing this process tion.
needs now is to undermine Hahn told The Associated
the public's faith in the Press earlier this week that
vaccine with political pres- his agency had already
sure to hurry up an already teed up authorization by
rushed process with threats prefilling all the necessary
of firings," said Carl Tobias, legal paperwork.
law professor at the Univer- "We're doing everything we
sity of Richmond in Virginia. can to cut down on the red
Jha added that FDA offi- tape, which I think is really
cials don't need the added important," Hahn told the
pressure. "They already feel AP.
the weight of what's hap- Trump has been livid with
pening in our country," he the FDA for not moving
said. faster to approve the shots,
Trump's frustration with the blaming the fact that a
FDA has been mounting, vaccine was not available
particularly as other coun- before the Nov. 3 election
tries have beaten the U.S. in for his loss. Trump also has
issuing emergency approv- leveled unfounded claims
als for the vaccine. Mead- In this April 24, 2020, file photo, President Donald Trump gestures to Vice President Mike Pence that drug companies de-
ows issued the ultimatum to as Dr. Stephen Hahn, commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, steps back to the liberately delayed vaccine
Hahn at Trump's direction, podium to answer a question during a briefing about the coronavirus in the James Brady Press development to hinder
a senior administration of- Briefing Room of the White House in Washington. Associated Press his reelection chances,
ficial said. though there is no evi-
The FDA decision — when views, which are consid- company data to verify strict FDA safety guidelines dence to suggest that took
it comes — will kickstart ered confidential govern- its accuracy. That's differ- for upcoming COVID-19 place.
an unprecedented vac- ment information. ent from the abbreviated vaccines. As he has refused to ac-
cination campaign need- The FDA's review is critical process used by the U.K. The standards effectively cept his loss to Democratic
ed to eventually defeat to assuring the safety and and other countries, which closed the door on Trump's President-elect Joe Biden,
the virus, now blamed for effectiveness of a vaccine rely on summary data pro- long-stated goal of deliver- Trump also has told close
nearly 300,000 deaths in that will eventually be giv- duced by manufacturers. ing a vaccine by Election confidants that he believes
the U.S. And the agency's en to millions of Americans, Hahn has stated for months Day and undercut White the vaccine is still being
greenlight of the vaccine including highly vulnerable that "science, not politics" House staffers who had slow-walked in a bid to un-
was virtually assured after groups like nursing home would determine when the blocked the guidelines for dermine his efforts to chal-
Thursday's positive vote by residents. agency gives the vaccine weeks., lenge the results.
agency advisers. The agency's careful ap- the go-ahead. More than 150 FDA staffers If the vaccine were shipped
Typically, the FDA does not proach is unique around He surprised many critics have been working in shifts out sooner, he has argued,
publicly comment on the the world in that the FDA in October by defying the over nights, weekends and it would rally public opinion
progress or timing of its re- actually reanalyzes all White House and publishing the Thanksgiving holiday to to his side.q

AP source: Cuomo among contenders for attorney general pick

ers at the moment include search process. activists who have encour-
former Alabama Sen. Spokespeople for Cuomo aged Biden to build a di-
Doug Jones, federal ap- did not immediately return verse cabinet.
peals court judge Merrick emails seeking comment The Rev. Al Sharpton, who
Garland and former Dep- on Friday. was among advocates
uty Attorney General Sally It was not clear to what who met with Biden on
Yates, said the person, who extent the disclosure this Tuesday on the subject of
cautioned that no decision week that federal pros- diversity and civil rights,
had been reached and no ecutors were investigating told reporters that he had
announcement was ex- the finances of Biden's son, encouraged Biden to se-
pected imminently. Hunter, might have scram- lect a Black attorney gen-
The person was not autho- bled the attorney general eral but gave him room to
rized to discuss the search search process given that select someone of another
process by name and the person who has picked race as long as they had a
spoke on condition of ano- would inherit the probe as- background in civil rights.
n this Dec. 3, 2020, photo provided by the Office of Gov. Andrew nymity to The Associated suming it remains active A former state attorney
Cuomo, Cuomo holds up samples of empty packaging for the
COVID-19 vaccine during a news conference in the Red Room Press. next month. general and Housing and
at the State Capitol in Albany, N.Y. The Associated Press report- It was also not immediately Urban Development sec-
Associated Press ed earlier in the week that clear how seriously Cuomo retary in the Clinton admin-
Jones, who lost his Senate was being considered or istration, Cuomo has been
By ERIC TUCKER President-elect Joe Biden seat last month, and Gar- how any nomination of governor of New York since
Associated Press for the role of attorney gen- land, who was spurned by him would be greeted by 2011 and has been the
WASHINGTON (AP) — New eral, a person with knowl- Republicans four years ago either Republicans, given public face of the state's
York Gov. Andrew Cuomo edge of the search process for a spot on the Supreme Cuomo's antagonistic rela- response to the coronavirus
is one of several contend- said Friday. Court, had emerged as tionship with President Don- pandemic.q
ers under consideration by The other three contend- the two front-runners in the ald Trump, or by civil rights