The Democratic effort to, without evidence, paint President Trump as a reckless leader who has put pressure on scientists to skip safety protocols to approve a pre-Election Day Wuhan Coronavirus vaccine continued apace on Wednesday. This time, Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden fueled conspiracy theories on the matter.
At a campaign event in Wilmington, Delaware, he conducted a coronavirus briefing with supposed health experts and gave a speech. Biden also took questions from reporters on the war of words between him, his campaign, and President Trump on the ability to trust a vaccine that could potentially be approved and distributed before the election or by the end of the year.
Biden was asked point-blank by a reporter if there was a “risk” he was undermining public confidence in a vaccine, which could have the effect of “preventing people” from taking the vaccine thanks to his message about not trusting Trump:
Reporter: “You just said that when it comes to a vaccine you don’t trust Donald Trump. Is there a risk that that message, that questioning the president on a vaccine, could prevent people from trusting the science, from trusting a vaccine when there finally is one?”
Biden responded by saying “no” and floating a “board of scientists” for final approval of the vaccine because Trump allegedly “doesn’t have any respect for scientists” or something:
“No, because they know he doesn’t have any respect for scientists. He basically said it. You saw what he said when he was out in California about wildfires, and scientists don’t know, and it’s going to go away like a miracle. It’s necessary so people can trust the vaccine,” Biden said.“That’s why I said you have to have this board of scientists that are going to say, ‘This is why we think this is a good vaccine, why it’s approved,’ and it has to be total transparency. So scientists outside the government know exactly what is being approved, the context of which it’s being approved, and why it’s being approved. It’s the only thing that takes care of that,” he said.
The reporter then correctly pointed out that “for a vaccine to work,” you need a sizeable chunk of the population willing to take it. This reporter wondered if Biden was suggesting people trust one politician over another (him over Trump) when it came to fostering confidence in the effectiveness of a vaccine.
Biden denied that’s what he was doing, and then pivoted back to his “board of scientists” idea:
“No, I’m not. I’m saying trust the scientists. Trust the scientists. It’s one thing for Donald Trump to say the vaccine is safe. Okay. Then give it to the board of scientists, have total transparency so independent operators and scientists and companies go out and take a look at it,” the former vice president said.
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Here are a few observations about Biden’s “board of scientists” idea:
1) Obviously, adding a “board of scientists” layer to the vaccine approval process would delay its release to the public even longer, which is exactly what Democrats want – not based on science, but the basis of their hatred for President Trump and unwillingness for him to get credit for it during an election year.
2) Think of how insulting Biden’s words are for the thousands of scientists and medical professionals who are already working all hours of the day and night and independent of any government influence to develop a vaccine. While there’s no double, there are some who are firmly in Biden’s camp. There are thousands more who would love nothing more than for him to stop intentionally downplaying the reliability and efficacy of what they’re working on.
3) Biden’s emphasis on an “independent” group of scientists to review the vaccine before approval is curious. Has he never heard of independent Data and Safety Monitoring Boards? Dr. Fauci cited such a board in remarks he made earlier this month concerning the possibility of political pressure being put on scientists to produce a vaccine:
Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said he trusts the independent members of the DSMB — who are not government employees — to hold vaccines to high standards without being politically influenced. Members of the board are typically experts in vaccine science and biostatistics who teach at major medical schools.“If you are making a decision about the vaccine, you’d better be sure you have very good evidence that it is both safe and effective,” Fauci said. “I’m not concerned about political pressure.”
It’s rather comical (and not in a funny way) that Biden presents himself as the paragon of checks and balances on the safety of a Wuhan virus vaccine when you consider that the very “solution” he proposes to ensure safety protocols haven’t been abandoned is already in place.
He’s either staggeringly ignorant about how the clinical trial system operates or dangerously naive about how the vaccine approval process works (or both). The mainstream media won’t call him out on this, but maybe Trump will at the first debate, scheduled for September 29th.
— Stacey Matthews has also written under the pseudonym “Sister Toldjah” and can be reached via Twitter. —
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