Donald Trump lashed out at Joe Biden for conspiring with Pfizer and claims distribution of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19...
Donald Trump lashed out at Joe Biden for conspiring with Pfizer and claims distribution of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine was paused – after it led to rare clotting issues – as a political ploy.
'The people who have already taken the vaccine will be up in arms, and perhaps all of this was done for politics or perhaps it's the FDA's love for Pfizer,' he wrote in an email statement on Tuesday.
The Food and Drug Administration recommended Tuesday that states pause distribution of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine after receiving reports that six people experienced rare blood clots. At this point, more than 6.8 million one-dose vaccines have been injected.
Of the six cases, one person died and another is in critical condition.
Trump says the pause, however, is evidence of the FDA working in cahoots with Pfizer.
'Remember, it was the FDA working with Pfizer, who announced the vaccine approval two days before the 2020 Presidential Election,' Trump wrote in his statement. 'They didn't like me very much because I pushed them extremely hard.'
Trump, pictured golfing Tuesday, claimed Joe Biden's FDA is conspiring with Pfizer as the administration recommended a nationwide pause of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine
Trump hit the links at his West Palm Beach golf club on Tuesday
'Perhaps all of this was done for politics or perhaps it's the FDA's love for Pfizer,' Trump wrote in a statement sent out Tuesday. 'Remember, it was the FDA working with Pfizer, who announced the vaccine approval two days before the 2020 Presidential Election'
On Tuesday, it was revealed six individuals formed rare blood clots after receiving the Johnson & Johnson coronavirus vaccine. One died and another is in serious condition
Dr. Anthony Fauci appeared at the White House briefing
'The FDA, especially with long time bureaucrats within, has to be controlled. They should not be able to do such damage for possibly political reasons, or maybe because their friends at Pfizer have suggested it. They'll do things like this to make themselves look important,' he continued.
J&J said it was aware of the roll-out pause and blood clots but said there is no clear link
Trump sent out the statement Tuesday as he also hit the links at his West Palm Beach golf club – where he spends most days just down the street from his Mar-a-Lago residence.
The former president said if it wasn't for his hounding, U.S. pharmaceutical and biotechnical companies would not have developed a coronavirus vaccine for another 3-5 years.
He lamented: 'It takes them years to act!'
The former president's statement, sent on the letterhead of his Save America political action committee, comes a few days after he again railed against top immunologist Anthony Fauci, who led the White House coronavirus response under the Trump administration and now in President Biden's.
J&J shares dropped by almost 3 percent in pre-market trading after the announcement from the two federal agencies
Trump said during a fundraiser at his Mar-a-Lago resort on Saturday that Dr. Fauci is 'so full of crap', claiming he wants Americans to wear five masks.
Facui appeared at the White House press briefing alongside Press Secretary Jen Psaki and White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Jeffrey Zients to give an update on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine pause.
He said it's a 'one-in-a-million' chance that Americans will experience the blood clotting condition found in six individuals who received the one-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
At the GOP fundraiser on Saturday, Trump mocked Fauci for his poor throwing arm, which he demonstrated while throwing out the ceremonial first pitch at a Washington Nationals baseball game at Nationals Park last season.
He also told Republican donors gathered at his Palm Beach, Florida resort that Fauci was only well-liked by the public just because he contradicted the Trump administration.
Fauci, the nation's top epidemiologist, has been director of the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984.
Trump also lashed out at Dr. Fauci during remarks at a GOP fundraiser at Mar-a-Lago on Saturday (pictured). He called the immunologist 'so full of crap'
He also mocked Fauci to the room ofRepublican donors, making reference to him throwing the ceremonial first pitch before the July 23, 2020 baseball game between the Washington Nationals and the New York Yankees at Nationals Park in Washington, DC (pictured)
'The Biden Administration did a terrible disservice to people throughout the world by allowing the FDA and CDC to call a 'pause' in the use of the Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine,' Trump wrote in his Tuesday statement.
'The results of this vaccine have been extraordinary but now it's [sic] reputation will be permanently challenged,' Trump continued. 'The people who have already taken the vaccine will be up in arms, and perhaps all of this was done for politics or perhaps it's the FDA's love for Pfizer. '
He said that the public pause will lead to more hesitancy toward people getting vaccinated against coronavirus in general.
Trump insists Pfizer is in cahoots with the FDA and Democrats.
The former president and allies often claim Pfizer strategically waited to announce their vaccine breakthrough until after the election, which included data showing it is more than 90% effective.
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