WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump is calling on drug companies to explain how successful their COVID-19 vaccines have been. He is demanding that the data be released immediately, saying the CDC is “being ripped apart over this question.”
Trump’s comments on Sept. 1 on Truth Social came after he fired CDC director Susan Monarez last week. Monarez had only been in the job for a month and clashed with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has long been skeptical of vaccines. Jim O’Neill, Kennedy’s top deputy, was later named acting CDC director.
“Many people think they are a miracle that saved millions of lives. Others disagree!” Trump said about COVID drugs, including vaccines from Pfizer, Moderna, and other companies. “With CDC being ripped apart over this question, I want the answer, and I want it NOW.”
The Food and Drug Administration on Aug. 27 released new rules about who can get the latest COVID vaccine shots. They recommended the vaccines only for people over 65 or those with existing health issues.
Along with Monarez’s firing, three other top CDC officials resigned to protest Kennedy’s leadership, including his vaccine policies.
Trump said he has seen “extraordinary” data from Pfizer showing how vaccines helped stop the virus, but he questioned why the public hasn’t seen it.
“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.
Trump originally launched Operation Warp Speed in 2020 to develop a vaccine quickly. The vaccine rollout eventually happened in 2021 under President Joe Biden.
By the time vaccines were available to all Americans, some of Trump’s supporters opposed them and questioned whether they were necessary. In December 2021, Trump was booed at a rally when he said he received a COVID booster and encouraged others to get one.
Trump is demanding the CDC release the vaccine numbers “NOW” to “clear up this MESS, one way or the other!!!”
“I hope OPERATION WARP SPEED was as ‘BRILLIANT’ as many say it was,” Trump said. “If not, we all want to know about it, and why???”
U.S. Sen. Bill Cassidy, a Republican from Louisiana and chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, praised Trump for pushing for “radical transparency” about COVID vaccine data. Cassidy, a physician, had voted to confirm Kennedy in February, even though he had concerns about Kennedy’s vaccine skepticism.
“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. “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.”
Last week, Cassidy asked the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel to postpone its next meeting, set for Sept. 18, because of turmoil in the agency and complaints from officials who resigned over “the lack of scientific process being followed.”
