Moderna, Pfizer Release Study Designs as Vaccine Distrust Grows Among Americans
18 September
Health + Wellness
Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld has his arm disinfected by Dr. Chao Wang during a Moderna clinical trial for a coronavirus vaccine at Meridian Clinical Research in Rockville, Maryland on July 27, 2020. Amanda Andrade-Rhoades for The Washington Post via Getty Images
The secretive blueprints for two of the leading vaccine candidates for the coronavirus were released Thursday. Pfizer and Moderna became the first two companies among the nine leading vaccine candidates to share their study designs, hoping that the disclosures will create trust and clarity for the public, as The New York Times reported.
<p>The details that the two companies shared are usually kept secret until after a study is complete, yet the companies decided to publish the size of their trials, the selection criteria for patients, and the adverse reactions that would cause the trials to stop prematurely. The Moderna trial will include 30,000 participants, while the Pfizer trial will have 44,000 participants, according to The New York Times.</p><p>The information released shows that the two companies and their executives still do not know if the vaccines are safe and effective. Furthermore, the disclosure shows that the ambitious time frame that President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> touts to have a vaccine available in a few weeks is all but impossible, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2020/09/17/vaccine-companies-reveal-their-study-designs-even-trump-sows-confusion/" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p>
<p>Trump's frequent comments about the availability of a vaccine to the general population by election day contradict the word of scientists, health officials and the companies manufacturing and testing the vaccine candidates. That mixed-messaging has sown confusion with the public and created the appearance that a vaccine candidate will be rushed to market prior to proving its safety and efficacy, according to The Washington Post.</p><p>"We need trust as much as we need efficacy," said Andrew Pavia, an infectious-diseases specialist at the University of Utah School of Medicine, to The Washington Post. "We can't afford to do anything that reduces the trust. It's not just the trust of the public. Experts in the field have to see enough of the data to feel comfortable to recommend it."</p><p>New poll number show that trust is eroding. Data released Thursday by the <a href="https://www.pewresearch.org/science/2020/09/17/u-s-public-now-divided-over-whether-to-get-covid-19-vaccine/" target="_blank">Pew Research Center</a> show that the number of Americans who are willing to get a vaccine for the coronavirus has dropped precipitously since the beginning of the pandemic.</p><p>According to the new poll, about 51 percent of the population is likely to get the vaccine, while 49 percent said they are unwilling or unlikely to get it. Only 21 percent said they would definitely get the vaccine.</p>
<p>The percentage of people who were likely to get the vaccine is down from 72 percent in May, marking a 21 percent drop over the summer. The thorniest issue for study participants was their growing concern that a vaccine was being developed too fast and it would be widely distributed before it was proven to be safe and effective.</p><p>"Over the past month alone — a period in which President Donald Trump has repeatedly promised a vaccine will be delivered by the end of 2020 and possibly before the Nov. 3 election — the share of adults who say they would get vaccinated has fallen 8 points after public opinion on the matter generally remained steady over the summer," the researchers wrote, as <a href="https://thehill.com/changing-america/well-being/prevention-cures/516952-americans-willingness-to-take-covid-19-vaccine" target="_blank">The Hill</a> reported.</p><p>That growing unease about a vaccine is what prompted the nine companies with the leading vaccine candidates to take the unusual step of banding together to pledge that a vaccine would not be released prematurely, according to The Hill. For a vaccine to be effective, confidence has to grow so enough people will receive the vaccine to raise immunity levels high enough to stop transmission of the virus.</p><p>As for a realistic timeframe, Thursday's disclosures by Moderna and Pfizer showed that there would not be a vaccine from either company by election day. Moderna's estimated timetable showed it would not likely know if its candidate works until 2021. Pfizer did not release an estimated timetable in its disclosure, according to The New York Times.</p>
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Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC and Trump participate in the daily briefing of the coronavirus task force at the White House on April 22, 2020 in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer / Getty Images
Dr. Robert Redfield, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), testified before the Senate health panel Wednesday and discussed a realistic timeline for a vaccine. While he said an initial vaccine for the novel coronavirus may be ready by November or December, the first batch will have an extremely limited supply that will go to the most vulnerable populations, as The Washington Post reported.
<p>Redfield then said that widespread distribution of the vaccine would happen gradually, with those least at risk likely not receiving the vaccine until the summer of 2021. For it to be "fully available to the American public, so we begin to take advantage of vaccine to get back to our regular life," he said, as The Washington Post reported. "I think we are probably looking at late second quarter, third quarter 2021."</p><p>In his testimony, Redfield also acknowledged that a vaccine is not 100 percent effective and works best when most people in a population have it. In contrast to the vaccine, he said, a mask is a reliable and scientifically proven tool to stop the spread of the virus.</p>
<p>"I might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine, because the immunogenicity may be 70 percent," he said to lawmakers, as CNN reported. "And if I don't get an immune response, the vaccine is not going to protect me. This face mask will."</p><p>He added that the American public has not yet adapted to the widespread use of masks that could stop the transmission of the coronavirus outbreak.</p><p>The remarks under oath from Redfield clashed with President Trump's insistence that a vaccine will be ready in a few weeks. Redfield's championing of mask-wearing also contrasted with Trump's reluctance to wear one in public.</p>
<p>In a press conference Wednesday, Trump publicly undermined Redfield's testimony, continuing to say that a vaccine will be ready shortly, and expressing skepticism about the efficacy of masks, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/16/world/covid-coronavirus.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p><p>In response to Redfield's testimony about a timeline for a vaccine, Trump said, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/16/cdc-director-coronavirus-vaccine-late-2021-trump" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>, "I think he made a mistake with that statement. When he said it, I believe he was confused. I'm just telling you we're ready to go."</p><p>Trump then added that a vaccine would go "to the general public immediately," and "under no circumstance will it be as late as the doctor said," as The New York Times reported.</p>
<p>On the point of masks, Trump cast doubt on Redfield's testimony, saying that Redfield made a mistake and that he was confused by the question.</p><p>"Maybe he misunderstood it," Trump said, as CNN reported. He then added, "As far as the masks are concerned, I hope that the vaccine is going to be a lot more beneficial than the masks."</p><p>He also expressed doubt that they were effective.</p><p>"Masks have problems too ... A lot of people did not like the concept of mask initially, Dr. Fauci didn't like it initially," Trump said, as The Guardian reported. However, he did not add that Dr. Fauci later clarified his comments that he did not want to see panic that would create a run on N95 masks and leave a shortage for health care workers.</p>
<p>After Trump publicly rebuked the head of the world's preeminent health agency, Redfield released a statement that reiterated the importance of a vaccine and masks, but did not address the idea that he was mistaken.</p><p>"A COVID-19 vaccine is the thing that will get Americans back to normal everyday life. The best defense we currently have against this virus are the important mitigation efforts of wearing a mask, washing your hands, social distancing and being careful about crowds," he said in the statement, as CNN reported.</p>
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Dr. Anthony Fauci says that it may not be safe to attend movie theaters or indoor events until a year after the U.S. has a safe, effective vaccine. Pxfuel
By Jessica Corbett
As the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in the United States surpassed 6.43 million and the nation's death toll topped 192,600, the federal government's top infectious disease expert warned Friday that life likely won't return to normal until sometime—perhaps late—in 2021.
<p>During a televised interview, <em>MSNBC</em>'s Andrea Mitchell asked Dr. Anthony Fauci, the longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, about his comments earlier this week that it may not be safe to attend movie theaters or indoor events until a year after the U.S. has a safe, effective vaccine.</p><p>Fauci said that he remains confident the U.S. could have a vaccine for Covid-19 by the end of this year or early next year, "but by the time you mobilize the distribution of the vaccinations and you get the majority or more of the population vaccinated and protected, that's likely not gonna happen till the mid or end of 2021."</p><p>"If you're talking about getting back to a degree of normality which resembles where we were prior to Covid, it's gonna be well into 2021, maybe even towards the end of 2021," Fauci added, referencing the local and state level lockdowns and social distancing practices that have been implemented throughout this year.</p>
<div id="38899" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="c876b6251b5bd2514394cc7fcffb6486"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1304450398883807232" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Live now on @MSNBC: @mitchellreports interviews Dr. Fauci.
https://t.co/MPjgQRmzjX https://t.co/qrS4zxbvqZ</div> — MSNBC (@MSNBC)<a href="https://twitter.com/MSNBC/statuses/1304450398883807232">1599840185.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>A White House adviser, Fauci also disagreed with President Donald Trump's <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-press-briefing-091020/" target="_blank">claim</a> during a Thursday press briefing that the United States has "rounded the final turn" in the pandemic. Looking at the statistics, "they're disturbing," Fauci told Mitchell. "We're plateauing at around 40,000 cases a day and the deaths are around 1,000."</p><p>The expert expressed hope that the U.S. won't see a post-Labor Day Weekend surge in cases like what occurred after July 4 and Memorial Day, and stressed the importance of driving down infection numbers heading into the fall and winter months.</p><p>"What we don't want to see is going into the fall season, when people will be spending more time indoors—and that's not good for a respiratory borne virus—you don't want to start off already with a baseline that's so high," he said.</p>
<p>Fauci also <a href="https://twitter.com/MSNBCPR/status/1304458897353211904" target="_blank">denied</a> that he has been influenced by the <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/09/09/emails-show-how-trump-official-hhs-tried-get-fauci-downplay-covid-19-threat-school" target="_blank">reported</a> efforts of a Trump-allied official within the Department of Health and Human Services to muzzle him or otherwise guide what the expert says publicly about the pandemic.</p><p>Regarding AstraZeneca's <a href="https://www.statnews.com//09/08/astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine-study-put-on-hold-due-to-suspected-adverse-reaction-in-participant-in-the-u-k/" target="_blank">decision</a> earlier this week to halt human trials for a potential vaccine after a participant in the U.K. showed signs of a suspected adverse reaction, Fauci said the development was unfortunate but should also reassure the public that safety concerns are being taken seriously.</p><p>The trial delay came as AstraZeneca joined eight other pharmaceutical companies in pledging to "stand with science" amid alarm that Trump may pressure the industry and the Food and Drug Administration to approve a vaccine ahead of the general election. As <em>Common Dreams</em> <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/09/08/what-it-has-come-amid-fears-politicization-fda-big-pharma-pledge-stand-science-met" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">reported</a> Tuesday, public health experts responded to Big Pharma's promise with cautious optimism.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/09/11/fauci-warns-pre-pandemic-normalcy-not-likely-until-well-or-towards-end-2021?cd-origin=rss" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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The offices of British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca PLC in Macclesfield, Cheshire on July 21, 2020. PAUL ELLIS / AFP via Getty Images
One of the leading candidates for a COVID-19 vaccine has been stopped after a study participant had a serious adverse reaction that is suspected to have been caused by the vaccine, as STAT News reported. The vaccine from the pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford was in the late stages of a phase 3 trial, meaning it was being tested for safety at several sites around the country and in Europe.
<p><br/></p>
<p>After a study participant in the United Kingdom fell ill, AstraZeneca said in a <a href="https://twitter.com/RebeccaDRobbins/status/1303452507641839616" target="_blank">statement</a> that it would review safety and efficacy data. Then the company released a <a href="https://twitter.com/RebeccaDRobbins/status/1303491310968479745" target="_blank">second statement</a>, saying it initiated the pause even though the study participant is expected to make a full recovery, according to STAT News.</p><p>Despite the pause, adverse reactions are very common in clinical trials as is pausing for a safety and efficacy review. It also does not mean the vaccine candidate is a failure. However, it does make it increasingly unlikely that the vaccine will be approved and ready for distribution by Election Day, as President <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/trump-watch/">Trump</a> has often said a vaccine would be.</p>
<p>In a statement, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/08/health/coronavirus-astrazeneca-vaccine-safety.html" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>, AstraZeneca described the pause as a "routine action which has to happen whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the trials, while it is investigated, ensuring we maintain the integrity of the trials."</p><p>AstraZeneca was not clear about how long the pause in the vaccine trial will last. The late-stage vaccine trial so far has included 17,000 people in Europe, the U.S., Brazil and South Africa, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/09/the-oxford-university-astrazeneca-covid-19-vaccine-trial-has-been-paused-should-we-be-worried" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. Phase 3 trials include a large number of study participants for exactly this reason; only by testing a large number of people do rare side-effects emerge.</p><p>"This is the whole point of doing these Phase 2, Phase 3 trials," said Dr. Phyllis Tien, an infectious disease physician at the University of California, San Francisco, as The New York Times reported. "We need to assess safety, and we won't know the efficacy part until much later. I think halting the trial until the safety board can figure out whether or not this was directly related to the vaccine is a good idea."</p>
<p>While the exact condition that the study participant suffered has not been released, The New York Times is reporting that sources are saying the person received a diagnosis of transverse myelitis, an inflammatory syndrome that affects the spinal cord and is often sparked by viral infections. It's unclear if the diagnosis is directly related to the vaccine candidate or not.</p><p>Robert Booy, a University of Sydney professor of vaccinology, told The Guardian that if the sickness is unrelated to the vaccine candidate then the trial might be paused for just one week, but it may extend to one month. He said that the pause "is more likely the product of being super careful" rather than a problem with the vaccine.</p><p>"This could have just been a high fever and it turns out they've got appendicitis," he said. "My bet would be that they find something in this participant that is not causal [from the vaccine]. It'll take them about one to two weeks to ascertain this, and then they will probably restart the trial in a month."</p>
<p>AstraZeneca said in a statement that it was "working to expedite the review of the single event to minimize any potential impact on the trial timeline," and did not waver from its commitment "to the safety of our participants and the highest standards of conduct in our trials," as The New York Times reported.</p><p>AstraZeneca was one of nine companies that signed a pledge Tuesday to assure the public that a vaccine would not be rushed due to politics. In a rare move, nine companies working on a vaccine made a joint pledge to "stand with <a href="http://www.ecowatch.com/science/">science</a>" and insisted that they would not be rolled out prematurely without proving beyond a doubt that they are safe and effective, according to The New York Times.</p>
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Trump takes questions after delivering remarks during a news conference at the North Portico at the White House on Sept. 7, 2020 in Washington, DC. Tasos Katopodis / Getty Images
By Jake Johnson
After President Donald Trump on Monday suggested a COVID-19 vaccine could be fully developed and put to market "before a very special day" — apparently referring to the Nov. 3 presidential election — Sen. Bernie Sanders warned that Trump's ongoing politicization of the vaccine process threatens to undermine public trust and safety.
<p>"I think you got a president who's losing it, and I think most people are sick and tired of the ranting and the ravings of Donald Trump," the Vermont senator said in an appearance on CNN late Monday. "Look, everybody wants a vaccine, but we want to make sure that that vaccine is safe. We don't want to see that vaccine put on the market for political reasons."</p><p>Sanders went on to urge doctors, scientists, and <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/09/01/wolf-saying-hell-guard-henhouse-big-pharma-ceo-insists-industry-can-police-itself" target="_blank">pharmaceutical companies</a> to "do the right thing and get it onto the market, get it into people's arms when it is ready, not when it suits the political purposes of this increasingly irrational president."</p><p>"Let's not politicize this thing. We have developed vaccines for decade after decade after decade. We have to give the resources to the doctors and the scientists to do their work," Sanders said. "We've got to make sure that vaccine undergoes the clinical trials that [are] necessary to make sure that it is safe."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">“Let's not politicize this thing,” Sen. Bernie Sanders says about the coronavirus vaccine. “We have developed vaccines for decade after decade after decade. We have to give the resources to the doctors and the scientists to do their work." <a href="https://t.co/GqSF5xfRbd">https://t.co/GqSF5xfRbd</a> <a href="https://t.co/jwJVMQo12i">pic.twitter.com/jwJVMQo12i</a></p>— The Situation Room (@CNNSitRoom) <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNSitRoom/status/1303114086083964928?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 7, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>The Vermont senator's remarks came hours after Trump <a href="https://twitter.com/CNNPolitics/status/1303040452577374208" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">claimed</a> during a Labor Day press conference Monday that "we're going to have a vaccine very soon, maybe even before a very special day."</p><p>Asked whether he's pushing for speedy approval of a coronavirus vaccine for political gain, Trump said: "No, I'm saying that because we want to save a lot of lives. With me, it's the faster the better. With somebody else, maybe they would say it politically but I'm saying it in terms of this is what we need."</p><p>"Now," Trump continued, "do benefits inure if you're able to get something years ahead of schedule? I guess maybe they do."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-conversation="none"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">"The faster, the better" -- Trump on a coronavirus vaccine <a href="https://t.co/Lc83qixbp3">pic.twitter.com/Lc83qixbp3</a></p>— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) <a href="https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1303033886163849217?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 7, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p>Federal officials have repeatedly cast doubt on the president's suggested timeline, saying there's little chance that a sufficiently tested vaccine will be ready ahead of the November election.</p><p>"I don't know any scientist involved in this effort who thinks we will be getting shots into arms any time before Election Day," one anonymous federal official familiar with Operation Warp Speed <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/07/health/trump-vaccine-timeline/index.html" target="_blank">told</a> CNN Monday, echoing the public statements of other officials involved with the vaccine development effort.</p>
<p><em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/09/08/people-are-sick-and-tired-ranting-and-ravings-sanders-rips-trump-effort-rush-covid?cd-origin=rss" target="_blank">Common Dreams</a>.</em></p>From Your Site Articles
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Director of the Centers for Disease Control Robert Redfield arrives for Trump's speech on vaccine development on May 15, 2020 in the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, DC. MANDEL NGAN / AFP via Getty Images
The appearance that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is taking orders from political leaders grew stronger this week as the organization told states to prepare facilities for a coronavirus vaccine before November's general election. The issue raised alarm for health experts who worry that a vaccine will be rolled out before its safety and efficacy are well established, according to The New York Times.
<p>The letter, written by Director of the CDC Dr. Robert Redfield, is dated August 27 — the same day that President Trump gave his speech at the Republican National Convention claiming that a vaccine would be available before the end of the year. The letter says that the CDC had entered a contract with McKesson Corp. to distribute hundreds of millions of vaccine doses to state and local health departments nationwide in less than two months, according to <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/cdc-tells-states-prepare-large-scale-distribution-covid-19-vaccine-n1239149" target="_blank">NBC News</a>.</p><p>The New York Times obtained a <a href="https://int.nyt.com/data/documenttools/phase-1-vaccination-planning-scenarios-8-27/e0b519d686f4dda5/full.pdf" target="_blank">planning document</a> that the CDC sent out. It described an evolving vaccine landscape, but touted the promise of two different vaccine candidates, and laid out a scenario where 2 million doses could be distributed before November and another 10 to 20 million doses distributed by the end of that month.</p>
<p>Both vaccine candidates would require two injections taken a couple of weeks apart and it identified at-risk populations and frontline workers as the people to receive the vaccine first.</p><p>"These scenarios are designed to support jurisdictional, federal, and partner planning, but they are still considered hypothetical," one document reads, as <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/02/health/cdc-covid-19-vaccine-distribution/index.html" target="_blank">CNN</a> reported.</p><p>In the documents, Redfield asks governors to expedite applications for the vaccine distribution facilities that McKesson would run, according to NBC News.</p><p>"If necessary," Redfield wrote, the agency "asks you to consider waiving requirements that would prevent these facilities from being fully operational by November 1, 2020," as NBC News reported.</p>
<p>Public health officials worry that the Trump administration is looking to roll out a vaccine prematurely, or at least to hype one, before the election as a way to score political points, as The New York Times noted. There are Herculean logistical challenges involved in distributing and storing a vaccine in sub-zero temperatures to a messy and disjointed healthcare system.</p><p>"This timeline of the initial deployment at the end of October is deeply worrisome for the politicization of public health and the potential safety ramifications," said Saskia Popescu, an infection prevention epidemiologist based in Arizona, to The New York Times. "It's hard not to see this as a push for a pre-election vaccine."</p>
<p>Director of the National Institutes of Health Dr. Francis Collins, however, told CNN that he doesn't see it as a premature rush to distribute a vaccine. He said it's proper planning should one of the two vaccine candidates tested show fast, clear evidence that it is protecting people.</p><p>"Now, keep in mind that the likelihood of that is pretty low," Collins told CNN. "This is like the Boy Scout motto, 'Be Prepared.'"</p><p>"Even if it's very low likelihood, if everything happened to come together really beautifully and we had an answer by then and we knew we had a vaccine that was safe and effective, wouldn't you want people to be ready to figure out how to do the distribution? That's all that CDC is saying," he added.</p><p>Medical experts did appreciate that the CDC earmarked the first vaccines for healthcare workers, essential workers and people who work in national security, according to The New York Times. The guidelines also said early vaccines should go to older people, indigenous people, minority groups and to prison populations — all communities that have been most affected by the novel coronavirus.</p><p>That specific direction is beneficial for public health, "so it doesn't just all wind up in high-income, affluent suburbs," said Dr. Cedric Dark, an emergency medicine physician at Baylor College of Medicine in Texas, to The New York Times.</p>
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Trump speaks during a news conference in the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on Aug. 4, 2020 in Washington, DC. Drew Angerer / Getty Images
The U.S. has decided to stick to its isolationist strategy for developing, producing and distributing a vaccine for the novel coronavirus. On Tuesday, the Trump administration announced that it will not take part in the international efforts led by the World Health Organization (WHO) to distribute a vaccine equally around the world, according to The Washington Post.
<p>That means that if a vaccine is first developed in the U.S., it will stay here and likely go to the highest bidders rather than the corners of the world that most need it, but are unable to pay for it.</p><p>Last month, the WHO <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/detail/24-08-2020-172-countries-and-multiple-candidate-vaccines-engaged-in-covid-19-vaccine-global-access-facility" target="_blank">announced</a> that 172 countries around the world were joining together to form the COVID-19 Vaccines Global Access Facility, or COVAX, which will work to develop, test and distribute the vaccine equally, according to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/01/us-covid-19-vaccine-refuses-international-effort-coronavirus" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">The Guardian</a>. COVAX is a joint effort put together by the WHO, along with the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance.</p>
<p>Asked on Monday if the U.S. would join COVAX, White House spokesperson Judd Deere issued a statement that read: "The United States will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we defeat this virus, but we will not be constrained by multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China."</p><p>COVAX plans to purchase and distribute roughly 2 billion doses of a coronavirus vaccine by the end of 2021. On Tuesday, the European Commission announced that it will contribute $478 million to the effort, which includes many U.S. trading partners and allies, like Germany and Japan.</p>
<p>The refusal by the U.S. to participate in a global effort to fight the coronavirus is worrying to public health officials and to academics who see international cooperation as a necessity to stopping the virus in an interconnected world. It also is an ominous harbinger when facing other international threats, such as the <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/climate-crisis">climate crisis</a>.</p><p>Kendall Hoyt, an assistant professor at Dartmouth's Geisel School of Medicine, told The Washington Post that the move was akin to opting out of an insurance policy.</p><p>Experts say that the idea beyond COVAX is to discourage hoarding of the vaccine and to focus first on high-risk populations around the world, which, in the long run, will benefit the global community, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/coronavirus-vaccine-trump/2020/09/01/b44b42be-e965-11ea-bf44-0d31c85838a5_story.html" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p><p>"No one is safe until everyone is safe. No one country has access to research and development, manufacturing and all the supply chain for all essential medicines and materials," said WHO Director General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in August, as The Guardian reported. "We need to prevent vaccine nationalism."</p>
<p>Some in the Trump administration see the benefit in international cooperation. According to The Washington Post, Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and Deputy Secretary of State Stephen Biegun both wanted to explore a role for the U.S. in COVAX, but were shut down by administration officials who believe the U.S. has enough vaccine candidates that it can take a nationalist strategy.</p><p>However, that's a bet that can have dire consequences for the U.S. either way. If a U.S. vaccine candidate does not work, the country will have no vaccine while the rest of the world does. Alternatively, if a U.S. vaccine does work, then the country will have a vaccine and distribute it to low-risk people, leaving its trading partners and potential tourists in the lurch.</p><p>"The behavior of countries when it comes to vaccines in this pandemic will have political repercussions beyond public health," said Suerie Moon, co-director of the Global Health Center at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, to The Washington Post. "It's about, are you a reliable partner or, at the end of the day, are you going to keep all your toys for yourself?"</p>
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Women walk past a free flu shot advertisement outside of a drugstore on August 19, 2020 in New York City. Bryan R. Smith / AFP / Getty Images
By Libby Richards
With the coronavirus still spreading widely, it's time to start thinking seriously about influenza, which typically spreads in fall and winter. A major flu outbreak would not only overwhelm hospitals this fall and winter, but also likely overwhelm a person who might contract both at once.
<p>Doctors have no way of knowing yet what the effect of a dual diagnosis might be on a person's body, but they do know the havoc that the <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-the-flu-does-to-your-body-and-why-it-makes-you-feel-so-awful-91530" target="_blank">flu alone can do to a person's body</a>. And, we know the U.S. death toll of COVID-19 as of Aug. 17, 2020 was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html" target="_blank">170,000</a>, and doctors are learning more each day about the effects of the disease on the body. Public health officials in the U.S. are therefore <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/16/health/coronavirus-flu-vaccine-twindemic.html" target="_blank">urging people</a> to get the flu vaccine, which is already being shipped in many areas to be ready for September vaccinations.</p><p><a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/season/faq-flu-season-2019-2020.htm" target="_blank">Flu cases</a> are expected to start increasing early in October and could last late into May. This makes <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/season/faq-flu-season-2020-2021.htm" target="_blank">September and early October</a> the ideal time to get your flu shot.</p><p>But there's reason to be concerned that flu vaccination rates could be lower this year than in past years, even though the risk of getting seriously ill may be higher because of widespread circulation of the coronavirus.</p><p>In an effort to avoid getting sick, millions of Americans avoided seeing their health care provider the past few months. Social distancing and stay-at-home orders have resulted in a decreased use of routine medical preventive services such as vaccinations. Many employers that often provide the flu shot at no cost to employees are allowing employees to work from home, potentially limiting the number of people who will get the <a href="https://ohsonline.com/Articles/2020/08/11/The-2020-Flu-Shot-is-More-Important-than-Ever-Experts-Say.aspx?Page=3" target="_blank">flu shot at their jobs</a>.</p><p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Pdh4gSgAAAAJ&hl=en&oi=ao" target="_blank">health care professional</a>, I urge everyone to get the flu vaccine in September. Please do not wait for flu cases to start to peak. The flu vaccine takes <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/keyfacts.htm" target="_blank">up to two weeks</a> to reach peak effectiveness, so getting the vaccine in September will help provide the best protection as the flu increases in October and later in the season.</p>
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A Lifesaver in Previous Years, but More So Now
<p>Both COVID-19 and the flu are contagious respiratory illness that present with <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/symptoms/flu-vs-covid19.htm" target="_blank">similar symptoms</a>. Both viruses can impact the<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/symptoms/flu-vs-covid19.htm" target="_blank"> elderly and those with certain chronic conditions</a>, such as heart and lung disease, the hardest.</p><p>Data on flu vaccination rates from 2018-2019 show that only <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/fluvaxview/reportshtml/reporti1819/reporti/index.html" target="_blank">49%</a> of Americans six months of age and older received the flu vaccine. The vaccine's effectiveness varies each season, with early data from the 2019-2020 flu season indicating a vaccine effectiveness rate of <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6907a1.htm" target="_blank">50%</a> overall, and <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/69/wr/mm6907a1.htm" target="_blank">55%</a> in youth.</p><p>While some may think this effectiveness rate is low, the flu vaccine remains the single best way to prevent the flu and related complications. For example, during the 2018-2019 flu season, flu vaccination was estimated to prevent <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden-averted/2018-2019.htm" target="_blank">4.4 million flu illnesses, 58,000 flu hospitalizations and 3,500 deaths</a>. Early data from the 2019-2020 flu season estimates there were <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/about/burden/preliminary-in-season-estimates.htm" target="_blank">39-56 million flu illnesses, 18-26 million flu-related medical visits, 410-740,000 hospitalizations and up to 62,000 deaths</a>. Much of this disease burden is preventable from higher flu vaccination rates.</p><p>It is now quite apparent that COVID-19 will still be circulating during flu season, which makes getting a flu vaccine more important than ever. As schools, our communities and our economy continue to reopen, it is vital to get the flu vaccine for personal, family and community protection.</p><p>Severe cases of both COVID-19 and the flu require the same lifesaving medical equipment. This highlights the importance of getting the flu vaccine for not only your own personal health but also the health of your community. Receiving the flu vaccine will help reduce the burden of respiratory illness on our already very overstretched health care system. By increasing flu vaccination rates, we can reduce the overall impact of respiratory illnesses on the population and hence lower the resulting burden on the health care system during the COVID-19 pandemic.</p><p>Because flu vaccination protects against one of these respiratory illnesses, the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/season/faq-flu-season-2020-2021.htm" target="_blank">CDC recommends</a> everyone (<a href="https://www.cdc.gov/flu/prevent/whoshouldvax.htm" target="_blank">with few exceptions</a>) six months of age and older get an annual flu vaccine. While the flu vaccine will not protect you against COVID-19, the flu vaccine will reduce your risk of developing the flu as well as reduce your risks of flu-related complications including hospitalization and even death.</p><p>While it may seem like there is so much out of our control during this pandemic, getting the flu vaccine, practicing proper hand washing, social distancing and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-make-sure-youre-wearing-your-mask-right-143079" target="_blank">wearing face coverings</a> are within our control and will protect not only you but also your family and community.</p>
<p>If you are not getting the flu vaccine from your employer, think about alternative sources now. Vaccines should be available in most areas by Sept. 1.</p><ul><li>Call you doctor's office to ask how you can get a flu shot.</li><li>Call your local public health department.</li><li>Consider getting a vaccine while you are grocery shopping or picking up prescriptions.</li></ul><p>Mainly, make sure you take advantage of this potentially lifesaving vaccine. Get it on your calendar for early September now. And remember, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-flu-shot-cannot-give-you-the-flu-and-why-you-should-get-one-now-124257" target="_blank">the flu shot cannot give you the flu</a>.</p>
<p>
<em><a href="https://theconversation.com/profiles/libby-richards-843679" target="_blank">Libby Richards</a> is an </em><em>Associate Professor of Nursing, Purdue University.</em>
</p><p>
<em>Disclosure statement: </em><em><em>Libby Richards receives funding from the Kinley Trust Foundation and Purdue University's Center for Aging and the Life Course. She is an active member of the American Public Health Association and the International Society of Behavioral Nutrition and Physical Activity.</em></em>
</p><p>
<em><em></em>Reposted with permission from <a href="https://theconversation.com/getting-a-flu-shot-this-year-is-more-important-than-ever-because-of-covid-19-144034" target="_blank">The Conversation</a>.</em>
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Russia Approves World's First Coronavirus Vaccine After Less Than Two Months of Testing
11 August
Health + Wellness
President Vladimir Putin is seen enjoying the Opening Ceremony of the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Pascal Le Segretain / Getty Images
Russia's Health Ministry has given regulatory approval for the world's first COVID-19 vaccine after less than two months of human testing, President Vladimir Putin said on Tuesday.
<p>"This morning, for the first time in the world, a vaccine against the new coronavirus was registered" in Russia, Putin said during a televised video conference call with government ministers.</p><p>Putin added that the vaccine, developed by Moscow's Gamaleya Institute, has proven efficient during tests and promises to offer <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/there-may-never-be-covid-19-silver-bullet-who-warns/a-54421328" target="_blank">"sustainable immunity" against the coronavirus.</a></p><p>"I would like to repeat that it has passed all the necessary tests," Putin said. "The most important thing is to ensure full safety of using the vaccine and its efficiency."</p>
Putin's Daughter Among Vaccinated
<p>The Russian leader also said that one of his daughters has already been inoculated and is feeling well.</p><p>"One of my daughters got vaccinated, so in this sense, she took part in the testing," Putin said.</p><p>After the first vaccine shot, his daughter experienced a slight fever, 38 degrees Celsius (100.4°F). Her temperature came down to just slightly above normal the next day. </p><p>"After the second shot, she had a slight fever again, and then everything was fine. She is feeling well and has a high antibody count," Putin said. </p><p>He didn't specify which of his two daughters, Maria or Katerina, received the vaccine.</p><p>Russian health authorities have said that medical workers, teachers and other risk groups will be the first to receive shots of the vaccine.</p>Years of Work Reduced to Weeks
<p>Russia is the first country to register a COVID-19 vaccine. As <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/germany-coronavirus-vaccine-may-only-be-available-in-mid-2021/a-54362065" target="_blank">countries worldwide race to produce the first vaccine</a>, health experts warn that speed and national pride could compromise safety.</p><p>Scientists in Russia and abroad have questioned Moscow's decision to register the vaccine before Phase 3 trials that normally last for months and involve thousands of people, but Putin emphasized that the vaccine underwent the necessary trials and that vaccination will be voluntary.</p><p>Russian officials have said that large-scale production of the vaccine will begin in September, and mass vaccination may start as early as October.</p><p>Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, meanwhile, has <a href="https://www.dw.com/en/philippines-duterte-volunteers-to-be-putins-russian-coronavirus-vaccine-guinea-pig/a-54523030" target="_blank">lauded Russia's efforts in developing the vaccine</a> and said that the Philippines is ready to work with Moscow on vaccine trials, supply and production. Duterte volunteered to "be the first they can experiment on."</p><p>"I will tell President Putin that I have huge trust in your studies in combating COVID and I believe that the vaccine that you have produced is really good for humanity," Duterte said, adding that he thinks Russia's vaccine will be ready for the Philippines by December.</p>From Your Site Articles
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German biotechnology company Biontech and U.S. drug giant Pfizer will begin the late-stage global study using up to 30,000 participants. Cravetiger / Getty Images
German biotechnology company Biontech and U.S. drugs giant Pfizer announced on Tuesday that they would start Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials of their BNT162b2 vaccine after getting the go-ahead from regulators.
<p>The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the global trial for thousands of participants at 120 sites in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world.</p><p>"Today, we are starting our late-stage global study, which will include up to 30,000 participants," said Biontech CEO Ugur Sahin.</p><p>Public health authorities across the globe have pushed to accelerate the development of a vaccine, including the U.S. with its Operation Warp Speed. Experts believe that a successful vaccine would ultimately bring the pandemic under control.</p><p>If the study is successful, the Pfizer-Biontech vaccine candidate could be submitted for regulatory approval as early as October.</p>
'The Power of Vaccines'
<p>The World Health Organization (WHO) is tracking more than 140 candidate vaccines of which only 5 are in Phase 3 clinical trials. American biotechnology company Moderna has also announced Phase 3 trials this week.</p><p>However, Western countries have also fought to gain rights to the first batch of vaccines, raising concerns that impoverished countries may be the last to receive them.</p><p>Phase 3 clinical trials are the final regulatory hurdle before approval. Amid a rise in disinformation campaigns questioning the safety of vaccines, the WHO has pushed to educate societies on the benefits of such medical treatments.</p><p>"The COVID-19 pandemic is unraveling many of the gains we have made through immunization campaigns ... putting hundreds of millions of people at risk," WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said last month. "Now is the moment for the world to come together in solidarity to realize the power of vaccines."</p>From Your Site Articles
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One coronavirus study considered promising is a joint effort from the University of Oxford iand the British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca. University of Oxford / YouTube
The science community delivered good news to the world Monday as results from three different coronavirus vaccine trials all reported positive results, with all of them showing evidence that the vaccines are safe and can produce long-lasting immune responses that would protect against infection, as CNN reported.
<p>One study, published in the British <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/lancet/article/s0140-6736(20)31604-4" target="_blank" title="www.thelancet.com">medical journal <em>The Lancet</em></a>, involved 1,077 volunteers, and was described as "promising." That study was a joint effort from the University of Oxford in the UK and the British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant, AstraZeneca. Both the U.S. and European governments have invested heavily in that study, according to <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/oxford-coronavirus-vaccine-phase-1-lancet/2020/07/20/12fbbc92-c857-11ea-a825-8722004e4150_story.html" target="_blank">The Washington Post</a>.</p><p>A <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/lancet/article/s0140-6736(20)31605-6" target="_blank" title="www.thelancet.com">second report</a>, also published in <em>The Lancet</em>, showed that a Chinese vaccine had modest positive results, according to The Washington Post.</p>
<p>The third trial is a joint venture between the drug giant Pfizer and the German company BioNTech, according to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/20/world/covid-coronavirus-vaccine.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>. They shared results online before peer review, and invited comparisons to the biotech company Moderna, which uses a similar technology and released early results last week.</p><p>"They all look really good," said professor Stacey Schultz-Cherry of the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, arguing that more than one vaccine would be necessary to address the needs of varying demographic groups, as The New York Times reported.</p>
<p>The British researchers at the University of Oxford said their vaccine produced antibodies and killer T-cells to combat the infection that lasted at least two months. As <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/07/20/oxford-universitys-coronavirus-vaccine-shows-positive-immune-response-in-an-early-trial.html" target="_blank">CNBC</a> reported, neutralizing antibodies is important to gain protection against the virus, scientists believe. The scientists did detect neutralized antibodies in the study participants. The vaccine prompted an antibody response within 28 days and a T-cell response within 14 days. Neutralizing antibodies were detected in most participants after one shot, and in all of them after two.</p><p>The T-cell response did not increase with a second dose of the vaccine, the researchers said, which is consistent with other vaccines of this kind.</p>
<p>"The immune system has two ways of finding and attacking pathogens — antibody and T cell responses," Oxford professor Andrew Pollard said in a release, as CNBC reported. "This vaccine is intended to induce both, so it can attack the virus when it's circulating in the body, as well as attacking infected cells. We hope this means the immune system will remember the virus, so that our vaccine will protect people for an extended period. However, we need more research before we can confirm the vaccine effectively protects against SARS-CoV-2 infection, and for how long any protection lasts."</p>
<p>While researchers said the results were promising, large-scale trials are still needed.</p><p>"What this means is that each of these vaccines is worth taking all the way through to a Phase III study," said Dr. Peter Jay Hotez, a vaccine researcher at the Baylor College of Medicine, to The New York Times. "That is it. All it means is 'worth pursuing.'" Phase III trials test how well a drug works.</p><p>One of the large-scale trials may start in India, according to The Washington Post, which currently has more than 1.1 million coronavirus cases, the third-highest rate of infection in the world.</p>
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First Trial of Moderna's Coronavirus Vaccine Produces Immune Response in All Participants
15 July
Health + Wellness
The results from Moderna's Phase 1 coronavirus vaccine show it is safe and effective so far. Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto via Getty Images
Results from the Phase 1 trial of Cambridge, Massachusetts biotech firm Moderna's coronavirus vaccine show it is safe and produces an immune response.
<p>The preliminary report of the trial, published in <a href="https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2022483?query=featured_home" target="_blank">The New England Journal of Medicine Tuesday</a>, reveals that all 45 participants developed so-called neutralizing antibodies that bind to the virus and stop it from attacking other cells. They developed these antibodies at levels comparable to the upper half of COVID-19 survivors.</p><p>"The good news is that this vaccine induced antibodies," director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci told <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-07-14/moderna-vaccine-produced-antibodies-in-all-patients-tested" target="_blank">Bloomberg News</a>. "Not just any kind of antibodies, but neutralizing antibodies."</p>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">We just announced interim results from the NIH-led Phase 1 Study of our <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mRNA?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#mRNA</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/vaccine?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#vaccine</a> against COVID-19 (mRNA-1273) in <a href="https://twitter.com/NEJM?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NEJM</a>. Read more: <a href="https://t.co/YqPyTCgjBB">https://t.co/YqPyTCgjBB</a> <a href="https://t.co/e2AStO92ES">pic.twitter.com/e2AStO92ES</a></p>— Moderna (@moderna_tx) <a href="https://twitter.com/moderna_tx/status/1283149692587708417?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 14, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
<p><a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">Public health</a> experts agree that a vaccine is necessary to return life to normal in the wake of a pandemic that has infected millions and killed almost 575,000, according to <a href="https://in.reuters.com/article/uk-health-coronavirus-moderna-idINKCN24F2T3?utm_campaign=trueAnthem%3A+Trending+Content&utm_medium=trueAnthem&utm_source=facebook" target="_blank">Reuters</a>. More than one vaccine will probably be required, because it will be difficult for any one company to produce the billions of doses needed, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/14/health/cornavirus-vaccine-moderna.html" target="_blank">The New York Times pointed out</a>.</p><p>"None of us are safe unless all of us are safe," Columbia University virologist Dr. Angela Rasmussen told The New York Times. "It's not just us. It's everybody in the world."</p><p>The Moderna vaccine candidate was the first to be tested on human subjects, and Tuesday's published paper confirms the positive results <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/moderna-coronavirus-vaccine-trials-2646031857.html" target="_self">reported</a> by the company in May.</p>
<p>In the trial, 45 people aged 18 to 55 received two doses of the vaccine 28 days apart, according to Reuters. They received doses of either 25, 100 or 250 micrograms.</p><p>More than half of the people who received the middle dose experienced side effects like fatigue, chills, headache and muscle pain and 40 percent of them developed a fever after the second dose, according to Bloomberg. Three of the 14 people who received the highest dose suffered severe side effects, but the company has decided to stop testing that dose.</p><p>Fauci said the side-effects were normal and not a cause for concern, but other experts disagreed.</p><p>"Man, that is a lot of adverse events," Tony Moody, a doctor and researcher at the Duke Human Vaccine Institute, told Bloomberg.</p><p>However, Moody also said the amount of antibodies produced was "really encouraging."</p>
<p>The vaccine's safety and effectiveness cannot truly be assessed until a larger study is conducted, University of Pennsylvania infectious disease expert Dr. Paul Offit told The New York Times.</p><p>"[I]t's reading the tea leaves," he said. "You just don't know anything until you do a Phase 3 trial."</p><p>Moderna's Phase 3 trial is set to begin July 27 with 30,000 participants, half of whom will receive a placebo. It should be finished by late October, but it is unclear if the company will know if the vaccine works by then, since it has to prove participants are less likely to contract the virus. If the vaccine does work, Moderna said it would be able to manufacture between 500 million and one billion of the 100-microgram doses a year starting in 2021, Reuters reported.</p>
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‘Among the Most Ruinous Presidential Decisions in Recent History’: Trump Begins WHO Withdrawal
08 July
Health + Wellness
Trump sits during a meeting about safely reopening schools during the coronavirus pandemic on July 7, 2020, in Washington, DC. JIM WATSON / AFP via Getty Images
The Trump administration began the formal process of withdrawing from the World Health Organization (WHO), a White House official said Tuesday, even as coronavirus cases continue to surge in the country.
<p>President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/donald-trump" target="_self">Donald Trump</a> first began attacking the WHO's handling of the new coronavirus in April, when he made the decision to <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/trump-who-funding-coronavirus-2645722550.html" target="_self">halt funding</a>. But <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/public-health" target="_self">public health</a> experts and Congresspeople from both sides of the aisle say leaving the organization will make Americans, and people around the world, less safe in the midst of a pandemic that has sickened more than 11 million people and killed more than 544,000, according to Wednesday morning <a href="https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html" target="_blank">figures from Johns Hopkins University</a>.</p><p>Lawrence Gostin, who directs the WHO's Collaborating Center on National & Global Health Law, said the withdrawal was "among the most ruinous presidential decisions in recent history," according to a statement reported by <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/07/world/coronavirus-updates.html?smtyp=cur&smid=fb-#link-7536f61f" target="_blank">The New York Times</a>.</p><p>"It will make Americans less safe during an unprecedented global health crisis," Gostin, who cosigned a <a href="https://oneill.law.georgetown.edu/letter-to-congress-on-who-withdrawal-from-public-health-law-and-international-relations-leaders/" target="_blank">letter</a> to Congress from 750 health and legal experts opposing withdrawal, said. "And it will significantly weaken U.S. influence on W.H.O. reform and international health diplomacy."</p>
<div id="9153d" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="2369a1a33aa73794a885ae5aaa19ad92"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1280600975867289601" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Thread explains why US w/drawal from @WHO is unlawful & unethical, among most ruinous presidential decisions in his… https://t.co/BK4SsmPARP</div> — Lawrence Gostin (@Lawrence Gostin)<a href="https://twitter.com/LawrenceGostin/statuses/1280600975867289601">1594154039.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>Trump first announced he would pull the U.S. from the organization May 29, arguing that it had responded too slowly to the pandemic and was under the "total control" of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/china" target="_self">China</a>, <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2020/07/07/888186158/trump-sets-date-to-end-who-membership-over-its-handling-of-virus" target="_blank">NPR reported</a>. But the organization issued its first warning about the new virus Jan. 4, just five days after the first announcement from local health authorities in Wuhan, China, The New York Times pointed out. It had completed a detailed report by the next day.</p><p>In order to withdraw from the WHO, the U.S. must pay any unpaid dues — which stood at $198 million as of June 30 — and give a year's notice, NPR explained. The UN confirmed to reporters that it had received that notice and was checking with the WHO if all the conditions for withdrawal had been met.</p><p>"On 6 July 2020, the United States of America notified the Secretary-General ... of its withdrawal from the World Health Organization, effective on 6 July 2021," UN Secretary-General António Guterres's spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric wrote in an email to reporters.</p>
<p>The yearlong delay means the withdrawal might not go into effect at all if Trump loses to Democratic rival and former Vice President <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/joe-biden" target="_self">Joe Biden</a> in November's Presidential election.</p><p>"Americans are safer when America is engaged in strengthening global health," Biden tweeted in response to the news. "On my first day as President, I will rejoin the<a href="https://twitter.com/WHO" target="_blank"> @WHO</a> and restore our leadership on the world stage."</p>
<div id="bb485" class="rm-shortcode" data-rm-shortcode-id="eb75831d048b6be5b5be8d58a106cd3e"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet twitter-custom-tweet" data-twitter-tweet-id="1280603719831359489" data-partner="rebelmouse"><div style="margin:1em 0">Americans are safer when America is engaged in strengthening global health. On my first day as President, I will re… https://t.co/qNgyOKHOlE</div> — Joe Biden (@Joe Biden)<a href="https://twitter.com/JoeBiden/statuses/1280603719831359489">1594154693.0</a></blockquote></div>
<p>But it isn't only Democrats speaking out against Trump's withdrawal.</p><p>"I disagree with the president's decision," Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), chairman of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said in a statement reported by <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-administration-gives-formal-notice-withdrawal-who-n1233100" target="_blank">NBC News</a>. "Certainly there needs to be a good, hard look at mistakes the World Health Organization might have made in connection with coronavirus, but the time to do that is after the crisis has been dealt with, not in the middle of it. Withdrawing U.S. membership could, among other things, interfere with clinical trials that are essential to the development of <a href="https://www.ecowatch.com/tag/vaccines" target="_self">vaccines</a>, which citizens of the United States as well as others in the world need. And withdrawing could make it harder to work with other countries to stop viruses before they get to the United States."</p><p>Public health experts agreed with Alexander's assessment of the risk. In their letter to Congress, the 750 health and legal experts wrote that, by leaving the organization, the U.S. would lose access to the WHO's system for sharing data and vaccines. The U.S. also contributes more funds than anywhere else to the WHO's Health Emergencies Program, which means withdrawal will cost the whole world funds for contact tracing and vaccine development.</p><p>The U.S. historically has contributed around 15 percent of the WHO's overall budget, or $450 million a year. Beyond COVID-19, that money helps fund programs fighting health concerns like polio, malnutrition, HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.</p><p>"Pulling funding could reverse hard-won progress and erode the ability of the U.S. to shape and lead policy," the letter writers said.</p>
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