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Donald Trump has called on pharmaceutical companies to release more data on the effectiveness of their Covid-19 vaccines as he looks to quell tensions within his administration over immunisation policy.
The president on Monday said the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) was “being ripped apart” by disagreements over vaccines and demanded that drugmakers disclose figures demonstrating the success of their products.
“They show me GREAT numbers and results, but they don’t seem to be showing them to many others. I want them to show them NOW, to CDC and the public, and clear up this MESS, one way or the other!!!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform.
The CDC, the US public health agency, plunged into deeper turmoil last week over vaccine policy and the sceptical stance of Trump’s health secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr. The White House fired the agency’s director Susan Monarez after a clash with Kennedy — which was followed by a raft of resignations by senior officials.
Trump, who oversaw the development and distribution of Covid vaccines in the US during his first term, has sought to walk a line between taking credit for the effort, dubbed Operation Warp Speed, and provoking the ire of his supporters, many of whom are sceptical of vaccines.
Vaccines in the US, including several used to guard against Covid, are approved by the Food and Drug Administration following extensive testing. They are then recommended for public use by the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and signed off by the CDC director.
“Many people think [Covid drugs] are a miracle that saved Millions of lives. Others disagree!” Trump wrote on Monday. “With CDC being ripped apart over this question, I want the answer, and I want it NOW.”
News of Monarez’s firing last week came hours after the FDA narrowed its authorisation for the latest Covid shots.
Trump has stood behind Kennedy through the turmoil, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday defending the decision to sack Monarez, who she said did not align “with the president’s mission to make America healthy again”.
Monarez has vowed to contest her dismissal, which her lawyers said was the result of her refusal “to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts”.
Kennedy has said he is “fixing” the CDC and accused it of spreading “misinformation” about Covid. “There is really a deeply, deeply embedded, I would say, malaise at the agency,” he told Fox News on Thursday.
Trump suggested on Monday that drugmakers bore some responsibility for the turmoil by not making public the information they had shown him about the success of their vaccines.
“I have been shown information from Pfizer, and others, that is extraordinary, but they never seem to show those results to the public. Why not???” the president wrote.
“They go off to the next ‘hunt’ and let everyone rip themselves apart, including Bobby Kennedy Jr. and CDC, trying to figure out the success or failure of the Drug Companies Covid work.”
Pfizer did not respond to a request for comment.
