White House presses FDA director for’emergency approval of vaccine’… Mention until resignation

[아시아경제 차민영 기자] A foreign press reported that Mark Meados, chief of the White House secretary at the US White House, pressured Stephen Han, director of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), to write a resignation if the new coronavirus infection (Corona 19) vaccine was not immediately approved on the 11th (local time).

Foreign media such as the Washington Post and CNN in the United States cited bright figures, and reported that Meadows headed a phone call with a director on the same day and asked them to resign if they did not give an emergency approval by the day.

Meadows’ remarks are said to have followed President Donald Trump’s instructions. President Trump is known to have expressed an uncomfortable feeling when the emergency approval of the Pfizer vaccine came out first in the UK and the first vaccination started in the world. Even before the U.S. presidential election, which ended in Trump’s defeat, it also pressed health authorities over the supply of vaccines.

A senior administration official explained that the Meadows’ pressure remarks were joking in an attempt to urge prompt action.

The FDA’s external advisory committee recommended emergency approval to the FDA for the COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German Bioentech through a meeting the day before. It has been predicted that the FDA will make an emergency approval decision on the 11th or 12th, but in this atmosphere, the announcement date was advanced to the morning of the day.

However, even after the FDA’s emergency approval has been dropped, it will take several days before the actual vaccination begins. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory committee, scheduled for an emergency meeting on the 13th, recommends vaccination and the CDC accepts it before the actual vaccination begins.

Reporter Cha Min-young [email protected]

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