White House Chief of Staff Mark Maddox on Friday pressured Food and Drug Administration chief Stephen Han to approve the emergency use of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine later in the day, two administration officials said. The vaccine, developed by Pfizer and its German partner Bioentech, was endorsed by an FDA panel on Thursday and reached the public.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Maddox on Friday pressured Food and Drug Administration chief Stephen Han to approve the emergency use of Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine by the end of the day, two administration officials said.
The vaccine, produced by Pfizer and Bioentech, was endorsed by an FDA panel on Thursday and the next step is to make it public. In emergencies the FDA is not required to follow its advisory committee guidelines.
According to a senior official, Mendoza and Han spoke by telephone on Friday and were not approved.
The chief of staff said Han would be at risk of his job if emergency use permits were not issued before Saturday.
Han indicated that he would ask the panel to allow the vaccine to be given on an emergency basis.
President Donald Trump is pushing for speedy approval for the vaccine and tweeted live on Friday, complaining that the FDA is “still a big, old, slow turtle.” Trump has publicly expressed outrage at the FDA’s vaccine review process.
Trump tweeted on Friday, “Damn Han, get the vaccines out now.” “Stop playing games and start saving lives.”
Han said in a statement. “The FDA is committed to issuing this approval as soon as possible. ”
The FDA said Friday that approval for the vaccine’s urgent delivery would be completed very quickly.