Thread by @ASlavitt

COVID Update December 11: The FDA did not hire you Donald Trump.

So STFU. 1/

Also Mark Meadows, with all due respect to your 11th grade chemistry teacher, pipe down. You’re not helping. 2/

Very often people say hey, did you hear what Donald Trump said??

I often say “No, please enlighten me. I’m eager to hear the esteemed thoughts of a learned & considered mind.” 3/

Then I eagerly anticipate the Churchillian rhetoric, the inconvenient truths, the call to sacrifice, and the selfless appeal to the inner goodness of the human condition. 4/

But when Trump gets scientific, I know he is calling on the genius of his lineage, the famous uncle, the intuitive feel he has for science.

You know the intuitive feel that caused him to tell Pfizer “sell your stinkin vaccine someplace else! We don’t need any more.” 5/

Going to miss that deal making I am. 6/

Today he sent a sharply worded message by means of this very website to his head of the FDA using that erudite & well considered mind to say “get the dam vaccines out NOW Dr. Hahn.” 7/

The brief glimpse at the inner teamwork of the Trump Administration is impressive. The way he can babble words, or really nonsense words, & his agency heads know exactly what he means. 8/

And Hahn’s assistant comes into his office and says “The president. For you.”

And Hahn says “On the phone?” The assistant shakes their head.

“Oh, I see. On our private Twitter channel.” 9/

Hahn, at this point, can’t deny the scientific work that has gone into Trump’s message. It is clear Trump has reviewed the trial data thoroughly & reached his DAM opinion. Always ahead of me, Hahn thinks. 10/

Why do I need these scientific recommendations? These debates on C-SPAN for the public to see? The debate about the cost-benefit of administering the vaccine to 16 & 17 year olds. All those scientists & ethicists wasted their years of study. 11/

All of the Americans who want to be educated about the vaccine before they take it— Hahn knows— will be comforted to know that someone as qualified as a middling former real estate shark believes this should just be approved. 12/

But Trump is often subtle. His language may not have been clear so he had his trusty chief of staff call to tell Hahn that he expected either his resignation or the approval. 13/

Knowing what a man of deep character would do, Hahn will do the opposite. But this is a case of double secret reverse psychology. Not because he fears for the job he is due to hold for several weeks longer when his boxes will be dropped from his office window by civil servants.14

There’s not an American in the country that doesn’t find Mark Meadows’ meddling helpful. With a White House that is as science friendly & as trustworthy as this one, an exception to the politicians shouldn’t meddle in science is surely warranted. 15/

Overall, according to the latest survey, 41% of Americans say they definitely plan to take the vaccine. That’s about 20 points lower than comparable European countries.

Those 20 points— if not remedied equate to about 200,000 deaths & are the result of scientific interference.16

There’s a myth that people who don’t take vaccines don’t do so because they are stupid or uncaring. That’s by & large not true.

There are stupid & uncaring people who take the vaccine as well. 17/

But most people who are concerned about taking the vaccine want to but have legitimate questions.

And so fact sheets, data, the report of scientists are important. 18/

So the idea of rushing the approval out, without that work or thoughtfulness needed to answer questions people have and in place having a tweet from Trump & a threat on Hahn’s job is material. 19/

None of this changes the very reality that we have a slew of vaccines that are very effective with no meaningful side-effects. A beautiful thing.

But Trump is an artist at screwing up beautiful things. 20/

Failing to buy from Pfizer
Causing more people to doubt the vaccine
Not investing in vaccine acceptance
And using a final cap off of a threat

Yes it’s incompetence we will never miss. 21/

It’s a good thing he’s a scientific genius. /end