Report: Trump To Issue Significant 'America First' Vaccine Executive Order
On President Donald Trump’s watch, Americans will come first as the global line forms for the coronavirus vaccine.
According to Fox News, Trump will sign an executive order to that end Tuesday as part of a coronavirus vaccine summit at the White House.
Fox quoted “senior administration officials” who said that on the vaccine, the “priority has been an America First approach.”
The order will instruct the secretary of Health and Human Services to prioritize vaccinating Americans at speeds “unseen before.”
“Frontline healthcare workers, long-term care facilities and nursing homes,” one official told Fox. “When we get beyond that, the CDC will further refine distribution plans.”
On Thursday, the Food and Drug Administration will meet to consider a request from Pfizer and BioNTech for emergency authorization of their vaccine. A Dec. 17 meeting is scheduled to consider Moderna’s request for the same fast-track status for its vaccine, according to CNBC.
Quoting a “source close to the White House Coronavirus Task Force,” Fox reported that Pfizer could get the all-clear as soon as Friday.
FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said the agency is “very hopeful” of approval and is “moving very quickly.”
“The priority is to make sure we distribute these vaccines to Americans before we start shipping them around the world to get international access,” one official said.
The executive order is “clear and is directing that we prioritize access to the American people before working with partners and allies to provide access to the vaccine,” the official added.
Trump’s order will outline “who will be working with the international aspect of this, the framework, guides and tools, for when we have an excess supply to meet those demands,” the official said.
The official said “unprecedented collaboration” among the federal government, the private sector and international partners has brought the vaccine this far this fast.
An FDA spokesperson said the review requires experts to assess thousands of pages of data.
“Completion of these reviews involves such things as ensuring that the manufacturing process and the controls on manufacturing are appropriate, checking statistical analyses performed to ensure that they were done properly, and doing additional analyses, as necessary, to look at the effect of the vaccine on subsets of individuals who might be at greater risk of adverse effects,” the spokesperson said.
Moncef Slaoui, the head of the White House vaccine effort, said no time will be lost getting the vaccine out to Americans.
“The first vaccine shipment will happen on the day after the vaccine is approved,” Slaoui said, according to The Hill.
“That’s how we planned it. If the vaccine is approved on the 10th or the 11th, the minute it’s approved, the shipments will start.”
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