[국제]FDA Director “There was no external pressure for urgent vaccine approval…it met strict standards”

Stephen Han, director of the US Food and Drug Administration, stressed that the vaccination was safe, saying that there was no external pressure in the emergency approval of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“This vaccine met the FDA’s strict standards,” said Dr. Stephen Han, who held a video press conference on the 12th, the day after the emergency approval, and said there was no external pressure in the emergency approval.

Under pressure from the White House, he was clearing his doubts about sacrificing safety in order to quickly grant approval.

The previous day, the Washington Post and other US media reported that in a telephone conversation with Director Han, Chief Secretary of the White House, Mark Meadows, put pressure on him to resign if he did not give an emergency approval within the 11th.

Subsequently, an emergency approval was made on the night of the 11th, raising doubts about whether the vaccine’s safety could be trusted.

Director Han explained the report as “inaccurately describing the phone call with the secretary.”

“The FDA’s emergency approval is a critical milestone in the response to the devastating pandemic that has affected millions of families around the United States and around the world,” said Han.

The COVID-19 vaccine jointly developed by US pharmaceutical company Pfizer and German Bioentech received emergency approval from the FDA on the 11th after urgent approval recommendation by the FDA Advisory Committee on the 10th.

With the emergency approval of the FDA, the distribution of the vaccine became possible, and the vaccination begins when the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and CDC recommend vaccination through an advisory committee meeting on the 12th.

[저작권자(c) YTN & YTN plus 무단전재 및 재배포 금지]

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