Science academies sound alarm on political interference
Two prominent groups of scientists who regularly advise the government on Thursday warned of "alarming" political interference in the work of scientists and public health experts contributing to the government's coronavirus response.
The statement by the leaders of the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Medicine came one day after President Donald Trump suggested that he might reject an FDA proposal to raise standards for emergency use of any coronavirus vaccine.
"We find ongoing reports and incidents of the politicization of science, particularly the overriding of evidence and advice from public health officials and derision of government scientists, to be alarming," wrote NAS President Marcia McNutt and NAM President Victor Dzau. "It undermines the credibility of public health agencies and the public’s confidence in them when we need it most."
Trump said during a press briefing Wednesday that the changes sought by FDA were "a political move more than anything else," without offering any evidence to support the assertion. His remarks came hours after he spoke with HHS Secretary Alex Azar about the FDA proposal.
Public confidence in vaccines has plummeted nationwide amid the record-breaking effort to develop coronavirus shots and the president's repeated assurances that a vaccine will be ready soon. Sixty-two percent of people are worried about taking a Covid-19 shot while more than half would flat out refuse it, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation poll.
The tougher FDA guidance — which Commissioner Stephen Hahn said would be released last week — reportedly includes requirements for two-month follow up with patients who received the shot and a certain number of critically ill patients in the placebo arm of trials.
The FDA published its initial vaccine guidance in June but top officials said this month that they would bolster it amid fears a vaccine would not be effective. HHS Secretary Azar, asked on Good Morning America Thursday about the document, said that "guidance is already out there."
POLITICO also recently revealed that Trump administration appointees at the Department of Health and Human Services had interfered with weekly scientific reports coming from the CDC and had attempted to muzzle the government's top infectious disease expert, Anthony Fauci. Top administration officials involved with the White House coronavirus task force also ordered the CDC to stop promoting coronavirus testing for most people who have been exposed to the virus but aren't showing symptoms — a change the agency eventually reversed after criticism from public health experts.
The reports of widespread political interference come at a critical point in the pandemic, the science and medicine academy leaders warned.
"Our nation is at a critical time in the course of the COVID-19 pandemic with important decisions ahead of us, especially concerning the efficacy and safety of vaccines. Policymaking must be informed by the best available evidence without it being distorted, concealed, or otherwise deliberately miscommunicated," McNutt and Dzau wrote.
The science and medicine academies and their sister organization, the National Academy of Engineering, are nongovernmental groups that advise the government. They are currently assessing how to fairly distribute a Covid-19 vaccine after a request from federal health officials to draw up a framework.
The expert panel assembled by the academies is considering priority population as well as health disparities, high risk groups and potential viral hot spots.
"Ending the pandemic will require decision-making that is not only based on science but also sufficiently transparent to ensure public trust in, and adherence to, sound public-health instructions. Any efforts to discredit the best science and scientists threaten the health and welfare of us all," McNutt and Dzau wrote.
