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CBS Newsâ Margaret Brennan on Sunday confronted White House chief of staff Mark Meadows for raising doubts about the Food and Drug Administrationâs plan to release stricter coronavirus vaccine guidelines.
Last week, Meadows reportedly demanded FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn provide detailed justification for the new guidance, which would make it exceedingly difficult for a vaccine to be approved by Election Day.
President Donald Trump has pledged a vaccine would be made available by the end of the year, if not by the Nov. 3 election. Democrats and public health experts have expressed concerns that Trump is pressuring officials to speed up the vaccine development process for political purposes.
âYouâre not a doctor,â Brennan told Meadows during an exchange Sunday on CBSâs âFace the Nation.â âWhy insert yourself politically into this, which feeds these concerns about interference?â
Meadows responded that Brennanâs producer âobviouslyâ didnât do a good job of informing her of âexactlyâ what he had done, though he didnât elaborate on what that might be.
âWhat we actually have is new guidance thatâs coming out,â Meadows continued. âMy question is: Why would that new guidance come out after weâve already spent $30 billion doing that? And my challenge to the FDA is just make sure itâs based on science and real numbers and so as we look at that ââ
âWhy would the FDA not be basing it on science and real numbers?â Brennan interrupted.
Meadows didnât directly respond. Instead, he questioned why the FDA would release new guidance âafter weâve developed vaccines and drugs for decades.â
âWeâre trying to make sure that the guidance we give is not an inhibitor to getting things out fast, but it also doesnât detract from it,â Meadows said. âIâm optimistic that that guidance will come out based on good science.â
The new guidelines, drafted by a small group of career scientists at the FDA, would state that volunteers in late-stage vaccine trials should be tracked for a median of two months before an emergency authorisation can be considered, reported The New York Times.
Trump lashed out at the FDAâs efforts to tighten the vetting process during a press briefing on Wednesday, calling the agencyâs move âpolitical.â He said he may decide to veto the guidance.
âWeâre looking at that and that has to be approved by the White House,â Trump said. âWe may or may not approve it.â
Meanwhile, public health officials have been working to assure the public that the vaccine approval process wonât be influenced by politics.
âDecisions to authorise or approve any such vaccine or therapeutic will be made by the dedicated career staff at FDA through our thorough review processes and science will guide our decisions,â Hahn testified during a Senate hearing Wednesday.
âFDA will not permit any pressure from anyone to change that,â he added. âI will fight for science. ... I will fight for the integrity of the agency, and I will put the interests of the American people before anything else.â
Watch Meadowsâ full interview on âFace the Nationâ below. His comments about the FDA begin around the 3:40 mark.