When 74-year-old President Donald Trump announced Operation Warp Speed May 15, his intent was to create a vaccine at the earliest possible time to save lives in the age of coronavirus AKA SARS CoV-2 or Covid-19. Now that Democrats have fashioned their 2020 presidential election campaign around Trump botching the Covid-19 crisis, Democrats get uneasy about Trump producing a vaccine before the election. Just like Democrats think that a sluggish economy, or worse yet recession, hurts Trump’s chances of reelection, Democrats and the media want nothing to upend their 2020 presidential narrative. Announcing Operation War Speed, the White House met with vaccine makers, especially Moderna and Novavax, both receiving staggering sums of R&D capital from the government. Trump gave Modern $483 million and Novavax $1.6 billion to develop vaccines under Operation Warp Speed.
Democrats worry that if the economy recovers or Trump pulls a vaccine out of his hat it will upend 77-year-old former Vice President and Democrat presumptive nominee Joe Biden, unless he makes too may whoppers to survive the race. While Democrats see the economy and vaccine as wildcards in the 2020 race, they also see Biden as an unknown quantity, urging former President Barack Obama’s Vice President to pull out of upcoming debates with Trump. Democrats seem perfectly content backseat driving, criticizing the president for not stopping the virus, something so preposterous it doesn’t deserve a response. Yet Democrats now believe that political pressure from Trump on vaccine makers would compromise safety and effectiveness, rendering the vaccine useless except for political purposes. Trump appointed Gen. Gusave Perna to head Operation Warp Speed.
Operation Warp Speed pulls all government’s resources and clout together to create a safe-and-effective FDA-approved vaccine at the earliest possible time. “I have recently come to the conclusion that it is more and more likely to occur,” said Perna, referring to a safe-and-effective vaccine by year’s end if not sooner. “The key to our success is to ensure we rely on science to assure our options, effectiveness and risk,” Perna said, saying no resources would be spared to develop a safe-and-effective vaccine. Trump wants the public to know that no stone is being left unturned when it comes to developing a coronavirus vaccine. Democrats and media narrative is at odds with Trump’s commitment to have a safe-and-effective vaccine by year’s end. “The virus is our enemy and is impacting out way of life,” Perna told the Senate Armed Services Committee seeking confirmation.
Perna knows that Trump has put him in charge of potentially saving his reelection bid, increasing dependent on finding a safe-and-effective vaccine. “If confirmed, I will dedicate myself to defeating this enemy,” Perna said, mirroring the metaphors used by rump, often calling SARS CoV-2 the “invisible enemy.” Trump’s had much influence on Gen. Perna, knowing that Democrats and the press have done everything possible to make him look bad managing the coronavirus global pandemic. Perna worried Democrats and the press that a vaccine could be imminent, upending the narrative that Trump has done little to combat the deadly coronavirus outbreak.. “I am concerned that Operation Warp Speed will be under pressure to release a vaccine before the election, but before adequate testing and research trials have been completed,” Said. Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.)
Gillibrand raised the issue of whether or not a vaccine would be safe-and-effective because Trump sees it necessary for reelection, regardless o the science and research. Yet Perna guaranteed that only science would drive the approval of a vaccine at the earliest possible time. “Could any sort of emergency use authorization be invoked to release the vaccine, even if in limited capacity, before those requirements have been met,” Gillibrand said, accusing Trump of seeking vaccine approval at the earliest possible time for politics. “The decision to provide an emergency relief capability and/or deliver early is not my decision,” Perna said. That decision regarding a vaccine’s safety and efficacy would be left purely to FDA Director Stephen Hahn, responsible for guaranteeing the vaccine’s safety and effectiveness. Democrats and media question Trump’s motive for Operation Warp Speed.
Trump said today a White House coronavirus briefing that Operation Warp Speed was proceeding on schedule, maybe early to deliver an FDA safe-and-effective vaccine sometime in the fall. Sen. Jack Reed (D-R.I.), not fan of Trump, thought politics, not science, could bring the vaccine to market without safety-or-effectiveness. “The decision to provide and emergency relief capability and/or deliver early is not my decision,” Perna said. “That will be a policy decision,” referring to FDA approval and eventual distribution of the vaccine. “We should understand, all of us, the FDA has to demand rather significant efficacy for this drug before they say it’s OK,” Reed warned. “ We want a vaccine, not a headline.” Democrats can’t have it both ways: Wanting a vaccine but only after the election. Democrats have real anxiety that economic recovery and a vaccine before the election could put Trump in the White House..
