There’s been a lot of trepidation about how the trump administration will prematurely release a COVID-19 vaccine before Election day, how trump will claim to be the savior of America, how trump will boast that he alone was responsible for the vaccine, blah-blah.
Of course, phase 3 trials of the vaccine are unlikely to be finished by late October, so trump, the snake-oil salesman, will claim that the arrival of the vaccine is imminent, he will point to some souped by trial info and claim that without him the vaccine will die at the hands of Biden, blah-blah.
Democrats must not cede the ground on a successful COVID-19 vaccine to trump. The trump administration had little to do with the development of these vaccines. Credit for vaccine development goes to the thousands of scientists and hundreds of organizations worldwide, who did the hard work 24x7 beginning in January and even before then.
Democrats must make clear that -
- COVID-19 vaccine development started way back in January, long before the trump administration recognized the severity of the virus.
- At every step of the way since January, trump has been an obstacle in the development of vaccines and therapies, peddling Hydroxychloroquine, disinfectants, UV light and flower oil instead.
- All the trump administration did was shower a few select companies with billions of tax-payer dollars to ramp-up their production, starting in mid-May, after the vaccine development work was completed, funded by CEPI and various countries.
- Some of the vaccine development and trials was funded by the NIH, which flourished under previous administrations.
- Throughout the crisis, the trump administration down-played the severity of the pandemic. trump was claiming that the virus will ‘go away’ as late as July.
- The administration slowed down testing and sabotaged efforts by states to control the pandemic
- And knee-capped the WHO in its efforts to develop vaccines and therapies across the globe.
- And are now trying to rush a vaccine before election day for purely political purposes.
- trump and his cohorts are now claiming credit for the work done by others.
A look at the time-line of COVID-19 vaccine development shows who funded the development, who arrived late to the party and who is taking credit for the innovation and hard work of others —
Date |
CEPI, Researchers and Pharmaceutical COmpanies |
trump administration |
Jan 10 |
Chinese researchers first posted a sequence of 2019-CoV, in Bethesda, Maryland |
|
Jan 11-12 |
Inovio designed a spike-focused DNA-based vaccine by Sunday night Jan 12 |
|
Jan 14 |
U.S. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) signs deal with Moderna for an mRNA based vaccine. www.sciencemag.org/... |
|
Jan 11-20 |
University of Queensland starts development of viral protein based vaccine
BioNTech starts development of mRNA based vaccine
Univ of Oxford Vaccine Group starts development of viral vector based vaccine
|
|
Jan 22 |
|
“We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China. It’s going to be just fine.” |
Jan 23 |
CEPI funds 3 vaccine efforts — Moderna, Inovio, and the University of Queensland — cepi.net/...
|
|
Jan 29 |
|
White House Coronavirus Task Force announced; focus on travel bans |
Jan 31 |
CEPI funds Curevac — cepi.net/...
|
|
Feb 3 |
CEPI funds GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) — cepi.net/... |
|
Feb 10 — Mar 9 |
CEPI raises funds from govt and private partners |
“Looks like by April, you know in theory when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away.”
“The 15 (cases in the US) within a couple of days is going to be down to close to zero.”
“It’s going to disappear. One day, it’s like a miracle, it will disappear.”
|
Mar 4 |
Over 26 vaccine development efforts reported— www.dailykos.com/... |
|
Mar 10 |
CEPI funds Univ of Oxford and Novavax |
“It goes away….It’s going away. We want it to go away with very, very few deaths.” |
Mar 13 |
|
trump finally declares a national emergency |
Mar 16 |
Moderna phase 1 trial begins, in collaboration with the NIH |
|
Mar 16 |
BioNTech gets funding from Pfizer and Fosun (China) (not CEPI) |
|
Mar 18 |
CEPI funds Univ of Hong Kong |
|
Mar 19 |
CEPI funds Institut Pasteur — cepi.net/… |
|
Mar 21 |
|
trump tweets about Hydroxychloroquine |
Mar 24 |
|
“I'm also hopeful to have Americans working again by Easter” |
Mar 30 |
|
HHS announces funding for production of Johnson and Johnson vaccine |
Apr 3 |
Gates Foundation announces plans to fund factories for 7 candidate vaccines — www.businessinsider.com/... |
|
Apr 9 |
CEPI announces 115 vaccine candidates are in varying stages of development — cepi.net/… |
|
Apr 16 |
Inovio Phase 1 trial begins |
HHS announces funding for Moderna vaccine trials |
Apr 23 |
Oxford vaccine Phase 1 trial begins |
trump peddles disinfectant injection and UV light |
Apr 27 |
CEPI funds Clover Biopharmaceuticals (subsidiary in Australia) — cepi.net/… |
|
May 9 |
|
“This is going to go away without a vaccine. It is going to go away. We are not going to see it again.” |
May 11 |
CEPI provides more funds to Novavax ($384M) — cepi.net/... |
|
May 15 |
|
“Vaccine or no vaccine, we’re back.”
Announcement of Operation Warp Speed (OWS)
|
May 18 |
Moderna announces preliminary Phase 1 results |
Trump says he’s taking HCQ as a preventative measure
|
May 21 |
|
OWS announces funding for production of the AstraZeneca/Univ. of Oxford vaccine ($1.2B) |
May 26 |
Novavax vaccine Phase 1 trial begins |
|
May 29 |
|
Termination of relationship with the World Health Organization |
Jun 4 |
CEPI funds AstraZeneca for vaccine production ($383M) |
|
Jun 18 |
|
“And it is dying out. The numbers are starting to get very good.” |
Jun 23 |
Clover, CureVac — Phase 1 trials |
"It's going away," |
Jun 28 |
Oxford Phase 3 trial begins in Brazil |
|
Jul 1 |
|
“I think that, at some point, that’s going to sort of disappear, I hope.” |
Jul 7 |
|
OWS announces funding for manufacturing of Novavax vaccine ($1.6B) |
Jul 13 |
Univ of Queensland — Phase 1 trials |
|
Jul 22 |
|
OWS announces funding for manufacturing of Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine ($1.95B) |
Jul 27 |
Moderna Phase 3 trial begins
|
Pfizer/BioNTech Phase 3 trial begins
“America will develop a vaccine very soon, and we will defeat the virus. We will have it delivered in record time.”
|
Jul 31 |
|
OWS announces funding for manufacturing of Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline's (GSK) vaccine ($2B) |
Aug 5 |
|
OWS announces funding for manufacturing of J&J vaccine ($456M) |
Aug 11 |
|
OWS announces funding for manufacturing of Moderna vaccine ($483M) |
Aug 13 |
CEPI reserves manufacturing capacity for COVID-19 vaccines at SK bioscience for 2 billion doses |
|
Sep 1 |
Oxford Phase 3 trial begins in U.S. |
|
Notes
- There could have been other efforts and funding for these organizations I might have missed. The NIH probably provided some early research funds too.
- Between Feb and June, CEPI raised funds from govts of UK, Norway, Germany, Belgium, Canada, Netherlands, Switzerland, Saudi Arabia, Greece, and Austria and from private sector organizations. The Gates Foundation has funded CEPI over many years.
- Congress directed about $10 billion to OWS, $6.5 billion for countermeasure development and $3 billion for NIH research.
- CEPI too has been investing in ramping up production facilities.
- In addition, there are 4 vaccines from China in phase 3 trial stage. Many Chinese vaccines started development in January.
- None of the phase 3 trials are fully recruited yet, so it is difficult to imagine how results can be produced in the next 2 months. Participants generally need 2 doses of the vaccine 3-4 weeks apart.
Here is the historic tweet that announced the release of the Coronavirus genome.
A Synopsis of the leading vaccine candidates
The following table shows the leading vaccine efforts organized by vaccine type and country. Note that there are many more vaccines in clinical trails than the subset shown below.
COUNTRY |
GENETIC (MRNA, DNA) |
VIRAL VECTOR |
PROTEIN BASED |
WHOLE VIRUS |
USA |
Moderna (3)
Inovio (2)
|
J&J+IDMC (1/2)
Merck+IAVI (pre)
|
Novovax (2)
Sanofi/GSK (1)
|
|
Europe |
Pfizer+BioNTech (3)
Imperial College+
Morningside (1/2)
Curevac (2)
|
University of Oxford + AstraZeneca (3)
|
|
|
China |
People's Liberation Army (PLA) Academy of Military Sciences/Walvax Biotech (1/2) |
CanSino (3)
|
Clover Biopharm (1)
|
Sinovac (3)
Sinopharm (3)
Institute of Medical Biology (2)
|
Russia |
|
Gamaleya Research Institute (3) |
|
|
Notes
- Note that the table has 5 columns. Scroll right if necessary.
- Clinical trial phase is indicated in parenthesis.
- Companies funded by the U.S. Warp Speed program are indicated in bold.
- On Aug 27, the CDC sent instructions to states to prepare for limited quantities of 2 vaccines by early November (most likely Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna, both mRNA based vaccines (see www.nytimes.com/…). These three documents were sent to public health officials in all states and territories as well as officials in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Houston and San Antonio on Aug. 27.
The Truth slips out
Even CDC director Dr. Robert Redfield acknowledged last week that vaccines are a long way away from being available to the general public (3rd quarter 2021) and masks will provide better protection than even vaccines! Looks like he knows something about the rushed vaccines.
Also, as many of us have suspected, the trump/republican plan is to reach herd immunity via mass infections. They are trying their best to get people get infected — in trump rallies, schools, workplaces and bars and they vociferously advocate against masks, social distancing, testing and contact tracing.
Playing political games with vaccines
The rush to approve a vaccine, for emergency use, by election is day is a cynical ploy by trump and the republican party. After all, the republican base is a hot-bed of anti-science, anti-vaxxer, conspiracy-theory mongers; how many of them will rush to get the vaccine anyways? Even Democrats are wary of accepting a vaccine approved by trump and his sycophants, before phase 3 clinical trials are properly executed. The pause in the Astrazeneca trial was a grim reminder of the importance of letting clinical trials and studies be driven by science, not politics.
And then is Russian propaganda playing mind games with those who are weak in mind (i.e., trump supporters) ...
Remarks
It is clear from the above timeline that —
- Most of the COVID-19 vaccine R&D was funded by CEPI and private organizations, not the trump administration.
- While vaccine makers were busy doing R&D and lab-testing during January-March, the administration had little interest in vaccines since they thought that COVID-19 was a mild flu-like disease which would disappear within a few weeks.
- OWS arrived late in the game and invested tax dollars in a few vaccine companies to help them establish large scale production facilities. OWS did not even get launched until mid May.
- Scientists and organizations like CEPI, WHO and the Gates Foundation were already stressing the need to build up factories in March and April, even as trials were getting started.
- The administration has actively sabotaged efforts by states to control the pandemic and stopped doctors and scientists from doing their jobs.
So, let’s give credit where credit is due and not let the administration steal the thunder and the hard work done by virologists and vaccine developers.
The Biden team should make it clear to the American people that as and when a properly tested vaccine arrives, it will be not be because of the trump administration, it will be in spite of it. And that pressuring the FDA to approve a vaccine before election day is irresponsible and dangerous. The Biden campaign should emphasize that it will handle the testing and distribution of vaccines much more responsibly and apolitically than the current administration. And that even after vaccines are mass administered, masks and social distancing rules will be needed for many more months. Biden must reminder voters that Democratic administrations have always been competent, science-oriented, world leaders and apolitical when it comes to the health and well-being of the American people.
Further Reading
- CEPI — cepi.net/…
- Operation Warp Speed — www.defense.gov/...
- Scientists are moving at record speed to create new coronavirus vaccines—but they may come too late. (Jan 27, 2020) www.sciencemag.org/…
- Coronovirus Vaccines and Treatments under Development (March 4) — www.dailykos.com/...
- Bill Gates is helping fund new factories for 7 potential coronavirus vaccines, even though it will waste billions of dollars (Apr 3) — www.businessinsider.com/…
- COVID-19 Vaccines - Where are we now? And what lies ahead? (July 24, 2020)— www.dailykos.com/…
- Draft landscape of COVID-19 candidate vaccines — www.who.int/...
- Timeline of Trump’s Coronavirus Responses — doggett.house.gov/…
- C.D.C. Tells States How to Prepare for Covid-19 Vaccine by Early November — www.nytimes.com/…
- 321 vaccine candidates against COVID-19 now in development (Sep 4) — cepi.net/…
- AstraZeneca/Oxford Covid-19 vaccine trial put on hold due to safety concern — www.dailykos.com/…
- Vaccines & Hydroxychloroquine: What to say? — www.dailykos.com/… by docmidwest, has some good info on the Obama administration efforts for vaccine development and pandemic preparation.
P.S. I had originally published this diary last week; I am re-publishing it with a few updates.