President Trump demands drugmakers ‘justify their success’ with COVID vaccines

WASHINGTON ‒ President Donald Trump called on drug companies to “justify their success” in combatting the COVID-19 virus, demanding the immediate release of data on the matter while the CDC is “being ripped apart over this question.”

Trump’s remarks in a Sept. 1 post on Truth Social follow his firing last week of CDC director Susan Monarez just one month into her tenure after a disagreement she had over vaccine policy with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine skeptic. Jim O’Neill, a top deputy of Kennedy, was later named acting CDC director.

“Many people think they are a miracle that saved Millions of lives. Others disagree!” Trump said of COVID drugs including vaccines made by Pfizer, Moderna and other drug companies. “With CDC being ripped apart over this question, I want the answer, and I want it NOW.”

More: White House fires CDC Director Susan Monarez after clash with RFK Jr., but she refuses to quit

The Food and Drug Administration on Aug. 27 set tighter guidelines on who can receive the latest COVID vaccination shots, recommending the vaccines to only people over 65 or individuals with existing health problems.

In addition to the ouster of Monarez, three other top CDC officials resigned in protest of Kennedy’s leadership including his direction on vaccines.

Trump said he’s been shown “extraordinary” information from Pfizer that detail the positive effects vaccines had in stopping the spread of the coronavirus but questioned why the same data hasn’t been showed to the public.

More: Former CDC directors say RFK Jr.’s actions should alarm every American’

“Why not??? They go off to the next ‘hunt’ and let everyone rip themselves apart, including Bobby Kennedy Jr. and CDC, trying to figure out the success or failure of the Drug Companies Covid work,” Trump said.

In response to the COVID pandemic in 2020, Trump launched Operation Warp Speed aimed at quickly developing a vaccine to treat the virus. The rollout of the vaccine came in 2021 under former President Joe Biden, however.

More: Top RFK Jr. deputy Jim O’Neill named acting CDC director after previous head fired

By the time the vaccine was available to all Americans, many of Trump’s most diehard supporters vocally opposed vaccinations and questioned whether they were necessary. Trump was met by boos in December 2021 when he told supporters at a rally that he received a COVID booster and recommended they should, too.

Trump said he wants the CDC to release numbers and results “NOW” to “clear up this MESS, one way or the other!!!”

“I hope OPERATION WARP SPEED was as ‘BRILLIANT’ as many say it was,” the president said. “If not, we all want to know about it, and why???”

More: Sen. Bill Cassidy wants ‘oversight’ of CDC. Some say he deserves blame for its turmoil.

U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Louisiana Republican who chairs the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, applauded Trump for pushing “radical transparency” of COVID vaccine data. Cassidy, a physician, was the key vote to secure Kennedy’s confirmation in February after expressing reservations about Kennedy’s statements skeptical of vaccines but voting for him regardless.

“We need to know what the data says and where it is coming from, so the CDC and HHS can make the best decisions,” Cassidy said in a statement. “People who criticize President Trump’s Operation Warp Speed typically misrepresent and carefully select ‘their facts.’ We should be honest about the success of Operation Warp Speed.”

Cassidy last week called for the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel to indefinitely postpone its next meeting, set for Sept. 18, amid the turmoil in the agency and allegations from the CDC officials who resigned over “the lack of scientific process being followed.”

Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump demands drugmakers ‘justify their success’ with COVID vaccines