The Trump administration pressured the Food and Drug Administration to authorize the first COVID-19 vaccines and unproven treatments for political purposes, according to a new report issued Democrats on the House select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis.
Senior administration officials fought for the reauthorization of hydroxychloroquine as a treatment, despite studies finding it was ineffective, and tried to block the FDA from collecting additional safety data for vaccines in a rush to get them out before the 2020 election, reported Politico.
“The Select Subcommittee’s findings that Trump White House officials deliberately and repeatedly sought to bend FDA’s scientific work on coronavirus treatments and vaccines to the White House’s political will are yet another example of how the prior Administration prioritized politics over public health,” said House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-SC), who also chairs the subcommittee. “These assaults on our nation’s public health institutions undermined the nation’s coronavirus response."
https://coronavirus.house.gov/news/press-releases/clyburn-fda-trump-navarro-hatfill-report