Trump already has blood on his hands.

His blithe disregard for science, rules, really anything that doesn't appear to immediately advance his own interests led him to avoid making choices and taking actions that would have saved many thousands of lives. His most used and most effective tool is his mouth. Both the power of the bully pulpit and his native, epic talent for talking and talking and talking. He used that tool, his words, to ill effect, repeatedly and vigorously, flying in the face of science, flouting rules, and basically talking shit (so much shit) and people died as a result.

Trump's main effort is to control the narrative. He wants those who hear him to believe him, and consider no other sources of information. This crisis has been his kryptonite because the virus is immune to his talk. It can't be intimidated or shouted down or gaslighted. This put Trump at an unexpected and serious disadvantage. His super tool was and is ineffective.

Remember when he gave instructions that hospitals around the country were to stop sending their epidemiological information to the CDC and were told to send it to the white house office instead? Remember when his political appointee was asserting editorial control over the "scientific" reports from the CDC? These are the efforts to control the narrative, irrespective of the facts.

This is the naked politicization of the health crisis.

He tried and failed to spin it away. Trump's hands are covered with blood.

So (needle pulling thread), he did a good job of thinning the herd when there weren't enough resources to go around. Some Presidents send people off to war while others let nature take its toll. Presidents get paid to do that balancing act. I've never been a fan of the war option: it takes away the young and able. Letting the old and weak fall by the wayside, knowing that you can't make all of the people happy all of the time, would seem to be in the best interest of future generations. Those who make it so are our unsung heroes.



Bwahahaha!

Pfizer can claim their Phase III testing is "complete" and submit for approval whenever they want. And the FDA can decide to approve it for release if they want. But historically, Phase III has always been expected by the FDA to take a bare minimum of 1 year. Those are the rules that supposedly can't be circumvented, but if a vaccine passes out of Phase III in less than 1 year, then they have indeed been circumvented.

But of course, domestic Kobayashi Maru goes hand-in-hand with Cowboy Diplomacy. It's a given.

one year is not "the rule" it's a guideline for vaccine development when not in a pandemic. the CDC link suggests 300-3000 participants, which you might expect if you don't have so many possible positive results because the studies are not done during a pandemic. but right now we do have plenty of data points. current phase 3 studies include 30,000 participants and more

More volunteers helps measure effectiveness more quickly, but the length of time itself is a critical function of the safety testing, just like 9 women can't make a baby in one month. If, say, a drug causes cancer, you won't know that in 3 months, no matter how many people take it. And it can certainly be argued that cutting corners is worth it, given that COVID is already killing people right now. But it can't be argued that corners weren't cut if the standard length of time for safety testing is shortened.

The standard length of time for testing isn't a lifetime; so, corners are already being cut. You can argue the probability of safety may change; but, not that corners weren't already being cut and now it's just a matter of degree. Look at all the approved drugs that were subsequently taken off the market.

nor in a year. thread's yours.

Fair enough. Everyone has to balance their own risk, for sure.

But Trump has castrated the CDC with all information and direction coming from Washington.
The FDA has the power of approval...

Attachment 71557

And the FDA says this is what you should do but it's nonbinding.

Attachment 71558

The wiggle room is explained in section VIII A & B. Right, section 8. :right:

Attachment 71559
Attachment 71560

Translation - We told you the right way to do it.
But we like our jobs so when the word comes down we say, how high?

What does that have to do with the price of COVID-19 vaccine in China? :eyebrow:

Why does a price of tea in China have relevance?

Why not? :eyebrow: