With the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention telling states to prepare for a coronavirus vaccine in late October, many Democrats are calling the vaccine unsafe, saying that it has been carelessly rushed by President Trump to help his reelection.
There is no evidence that this is true. Both of the leading vaccine trials, led by Moderna and Pfizer, have passed the initial phase one and phase two trials that have proven the vaccine is safe for humans. Currently, the phase three trials are ongoing to prove the effectiveness of the vaccines against the coronavirus.
Thanks to Trump’s Operation Warp Speed funding, U.S. scientists at Moderna, Pfizer, and other companies are leading the fastest vaccine development in the history of medicine. I have seen this firsthand, as I volunteered a month ago to be a participant in Moderna’s phase three COVID-19 vaccine trial.
The nurses, scientists, and lab technicians at these trials are working long hours to get a vaccine to the public as fast as possible. The scientist at the Dallas vaccine trial location I went to informed a group of us that she was up until 12 a.m. most nights on conference calls, coordinating with other scientists and studying the trial results.
Trump is not influencing the result of this trial in any way. Scientists are. Anthony Fauci stated that if the initial phase three results of either trial appear successful, the vaccine trials will end early.
Phase three of each of the two major vaccine trials consists of a pool of 30,000 people. 15,000 are given the vaccine, and 15,000 are given a placebo. The Moderna vaccine consists of an initial vaccine and then a booster vaccine four weeks later. I am required to take my temperature every day and record any symptoms via a mobile app for seven days after each shot, with check-in calls occurring every week. The Moderna vaccine has 89 trial sites across the country. With a vast pool of vaccine safety and efficacy data at the hands of scientists from both leading vaccine trials, people can be confident in the science behind either COVID-19 vaccine if the trials are successful.
Although no initial phase three results have been released from either the Pfizer or Moderna trial, we could know as soon as early October whether the vaccine has been effective. This is why the CDC is telling states to prepare for late October vaccine distribution. The success of the phase three trials will be based entirely on science and trial data and will not be influenced by Trump. Achieving vaccine approval in October would be historic and would help America rebuild the thriving economy that was in place before the COVID-19 virus affected the country. Until then, we must trust in the hardworking scientists, nurses, and lab technicians pushing these trials forward and have hope that the results of either phase three trial further prove the efficacy and safety of a COVID-19 vaccine. We cannot let the success of these vaccine trials become a partisan issue. Defeating this virus finally looks within reach.
Chris Ford is the former chairman of the Dallas Young Republicans and a former 2016 Texas RNC delegate to Ted Cruz.
