How Trump is undercutting America's COVID-19 vaccine pursuits

U.S. President Donald Trump wears a mask as he talks to Jim Keppler, Whirlpool Corporation Vice President of Integrated Supply Chain and Quality during a tour of the Whirlpool Corporation facility in Clyde, Ohio, the U.S., on August 6, 2020. /AP

Editor's note: Hannan Hussain is an assistant researcher at the Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI), and an author. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The absence of sound executive leadership is hampering the U.S.' pursuit for a COVID-19 vaccine breakthrough. Scientists, public health officials, and lawmakers are expressing fears that the president may pressure the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) into authorizing an unproven COVID-19 vaccine for election leverage.

A top agency health regulator has hinted resignation, while the FDA commissioner has dismissed conspiracies of an FDA "deep-state," which according to Trump, is "making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines." All the while, the U.S. president shows no signs of shifting official rhetoric to suit America's COVID-19 exigencies – even as countrywide infections soar past 5.8 million and push the national death tally beyond 180,000.

In an interview with Reuters on August 21, Peter Marks – Director of the FDA Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER) – revealed that if he ever faced executive pressure to green-light an unsafe COVID-19 vaccine, he would "feel obligated" to resign and inform the American people of ground realities. Marks, a center figure in Washington's breakneck vaccine-development exercise, speaks to a sharp trust deficit between health experts and the federal government – one that Trump continues to consciously cultivate.

Days after it was revealed that 57 percent of Republicans deemed the U.S. COVID-19 death toll as "acceptable," Trump thought to bypass U.S. regulatory standards and fast-track a London-manufactured experimental COVID-19 vaccine. The move – although the involved company AstraZeneca has said it is not in talks with the administration on the matter – underscores the president's dire lack of confidence in the U.S. drug regulatory agencies that continue to face allegations of deliberate vaccine delays.

Adding to Trump's reckless maneuvering is his "change of heart" on the FDA – after sustained attacks on the agency, Trump praised the same regulators for its "emergency use authorization" of experimental plasma treatment, declaring the treatment a "powerful" COVID-19 therapy.

Hence, the Trump administration's desperation to boast America's COVID-19 breakthroughs marks a new spin on election politics. One where 330 million American lives don't qualify as a policy priority, but as a thriving enterprise to amplify the president's public appeal.

Note that Trump's executive-regulatory discord is not just confined to the margins; it has its roots within the administration as well. Michael Caputo, assistant secretary for public affairs at the Department of Health and Human Services, stated last week that the government aims to identify a "safe and effective vaccine by January 2021." This post-election timeline is exceedingly unrealistic, given how chief vaccine candidates are still in the process of late-stage human trials, relying on early clinical studies and gradual enrollment.

The headquarters of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is seen in Silver Spring, Maryland, the United States. /Xinhua

More importantly, even if Caputo's January timeline was taken on face value, it runs contrary to Trump's latest promise of a "November" vaccine, defeating any uniformity in government narrative.

Similarly, lead U.S. infectious diseases expert Anthony Fauci implicitly contested Trump's overdependence on "emergency use authorization" for COVID-19 vaccines. In Fauci's view, this would undermine signals of true vaccine efficacy, and jeopardize testing of other candidates.

Both revelations make one thing clear: Trump's COVID-19 bluster enjoys little credibility. On the other hand, they also signal a warning: firm opposition drives Trump's vaccine nationalism.

Undermining public trust further is Washington's fruitless vaccine race with major corridors of the world. In a recent press briefing, Trump reiterated his animosity towards China – a line of argument that has failed to restore public support for U.S. health authorities.

According to a recent Yahoo/YouGov poll, mistrust of the health authorities has emerged as a key factor in driving vaccination concerns among the American public. Moreover, the number of Americans willing to get vaccinated has also fallen down to 42 percent – a record low. Factors contributing to this decline include Trump's aggressive hunt for a COVID-19 vaccine prior to polls, and many Americans continue to blame Trump for spreading COVID-19 in the country, let alone containing it.

Therefore, it is impossible to overstate Trump's role in undercutting his country's own COVID-19 vaccine pursuits. As the president maintains his signature aversion to data, the actual tragedy lies in the aspirations of the U.S. health experts.

They pursue vaccine development as the interest of the people, but are running out of options to communicate that responsibility all on their own.

(If you want to contribute and have specific expertise, please contact us at [email protected].)