US government’s top infectious-disease specialist, Anthony Fauci had some strong opinions on Pfizer. Fauci slammed the UK drug regulator and said that it rushed to clear the Covid-19 vaccine. Pfizer Inc. was in cooperation with BioNTech SE. in creating the vaccine. On Wednesday, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said that it had approved the Pfizer vaccine. This means the shot will probably be out in Britain before the US and the European Union.
In an interview with CBS News, Fauci said, “They’re great, they’re good scientists. But they just took the data from the Pfizer company and instead of scrutinizing it really, really carefully [t]hey said, ‘OK, let’s approve it. That’s it.'”
The US Food and Drug Administration has come under fire from President Donald Trump as they could not approve any vaccine for the Covid-19 virus before his loss to President-elect Joe Biden. Sources have quoted Stephen Hahn, the FDA Commissioner, and other health officials saying that a careful, transparent approval process is key to ensuring public trust in the vaccine that will be required for a successful immunization campaign.
Fauci also told CBS that the UK kind of ran around the corner of the marathon and joined it in the last mile. He also added, “They really rushed through that approval.”
Later, Anthony Fauci tried to clarify his words.
As per a report in the Washington Post, Fauci told BBC that the process in the US is the one that takes more time than it takes in the UK. “That’s just the reality. I did not mean to imply any sloppiness even though it came out that way.”
A “rolling review” enabled them to act quick in approving the vaccine: MHRA CEO
Then on Thursday, the UK Department for Health and Social Care posted a clip on Twitter. In the clip, MHRA Chief Executive Officer June Raine justified the regulator’s methods. She said that a “rolling review” process had enabled them to act fast in approving the vaccine.
The @MHRAgovuk used a rolling review process to assess the @Pfizer/@BioNTech_Group #COVID19 vaccine as quickly as possible.
Listen to Dr June Raine, CEO of the regulator, explain what this means 👇
Find out more:
▶️ https://t.co/8y4rXsDCqS pic.twitter.com/vJiHuffHad— Department of Health and Social Care (@DHSCgovuk) December 3, 2020
She said, “A rolling review can be used to complete the assessment of a promising medicine or a vaccine in a situation where time is of the essence, in the shortest time possible. But, and this is a very important point indeed, that doesn’t mean that any corners have been cut. None, at all.”
