Anonymous ID: c79db0 Sept. 24, 2020, 2:25 p.m. No.10773592   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>3732 >>3820

FDA Delays COVID Vaccine Beyond Election Day; Trump Responds

 

Responding to pressure from Democrats not to release a vaccine before Election Day, the Food and Drug Administration has artificially lengthened to time it would take to get a vaccine approved.

 

Joe Biden and the Democrats have ratcheted up hysteria among the public over a potential vaccine, claiming the president would release an unsafe vaccine and that any release would be based on politics, not science. In order to “increase public trust and transparency in the vaccine process,” the FDA wants more data on vaccine trials before giving its go-ahead.

 

The Hill:

 

Asked if his administration needed to improve trust in the vaccine, Trump said he has “tremendous trust” in companies testing the vaccines.

 

“I have tremendous trust in these massive companies that are so brilliantly organized in terms of what they have been doing with the tests,” Trump said.

 

“I don’t see any reason it should be delayed further,” Trump said, adding that a delay in a vaccine for a few weeks could cost lives due to the coronavirus.

 

The new guidelines will push the release of a vaccine past Election Day and into next year.

 

The Post reported Tuesday that the guidance will call for a median of two months of data on the participants in vaccine clinical trials, in order to ensure there is enough time to assess the safety of the vaccine candidates. The new guidance, meant to increase public trust and transparency in the vaccine process, would make it more difficult for a vaccine to be cleared for distribution before Election Day.

 

These new guidelines are not based on new scientific information. They have been created based on the ignorance of the public about how the vaccine approval process works. Even if Trump wanted to interfere in the process in order to get a vaccine approved before the election, he wouldn’t be able to do it. There are too many layers, too many steps that need to be taken that Trump would not be able to control.

 

Democrats have successfully frightened the American people into believing any vaccine approved by Trump should be suspect.

 

But it’s great politics for the Democrats to pretend that Trump could rush approval of a vaccine before it’s ready. Are they really all that concerned about the safety of the American people or do they know that an approved vaccine by Election Day benefits Trump politically?

 

Of course, Trump knows he would get a political boost from the approval of a vaccine. And he called out the FDA for playing politics with the vaccine approval process.

 

“We’re looking at that. That has to be approved by the White House. We may or may not approve it. That sounds like a political move,” Trump told reporters at a White House briefing when asked if he agreed with the FDA’s plan to issue the new guidelines, reported by The Washington Post earlier this week.

 

Operation Warp Speed, the administration’s plan to bring a vaccine to market in record time, will go down in history as one of the most astonishing technological and commercial achievements of the 21st century. If Joe Biden or any Democrat had been president, they’d still be involved in letting contracts to create a vaccine instead of being on the cusp of making a vaccine a reality.

 

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/rick-moran/2020/09/24/fda-delays-covid-vaccine-beyond-election-day-trump-responds-n963737

Anonymous ID: c79db0 Sept. 24, 2020, 2:43 p.m. No.10773842   🗄️.is 🔗kun

Germany far right: Intelligence chief forced out amid criticism

 

The head of Germany's military intelligence agency is to be replaced as the government seeks to ramp up its efforts to combat the far right.

Christof Gramm had begun reforms to tackle links between the far right and the army, but the defence ministry said "additional efforts" were now required.

He has faced calls to take firmer action during his tenure.

In January, military intelligence said there were hundreds of suspected far-right supporters in the army last year.

They said the KSK (Special Forces Command) was seen as a particular problem, with 20 members of the elite force suspected of right-wing extremism.

 

Mr Gramm, who has led the military counterintelligence agency (MAD) since 2015, is not suspected of having far-right links himself.

He has been leading reforms and efforts to combat the problem, which included working to identify extremist tendencies in soldiers and uncovering possible far-right networks.

But the MAD has come under fire in recent times for not doing enough to tackle extremism in the Bundeswehr [German army]. A series of high-profile incidents has also raised concerns over the influence of the far right.

In a surprise statement on Thursday, the defence ministry praised Mr Gramm's work thus far but said he would be removed from his role. "He is to be put into temporary retirement," it said.

"Further implementation of the reforms… will require additional effort and momentum," it added. "This new phase should also be made visible in terms of personnel."

His successor has not yet been named.

What's the background?

The German military's problem with far-right supporters emerged in 2017.

Inspections were ordered on all military barracks when Nazi-era memorabilia was found at two of them. Many of those suspected of far-right links are thought to be sympathetic to Germany's main opposition AfD party.

 

In May, police investigating links between the military and the far right seized weapons and explosives from the home of a special forces soldier. The 45-year-old sergeant major was in the elite KSK.

Defence Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer promised further investigation of possible extremist networks and said it was clear there was no place for anyone in the armed forces who acted "in a radical way".

And just weeks later, she ordered the partial dissolution of the KSK force which had come under growing criticism over right-wing extremism in its ranks.

The KSK had "become partially independent" from the chain of command, with a "toxic leadership culture", Ms Kramp-Karrenbauer told the Süddeutsche Zeitung newspaper at the time.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54282282