Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, was asked Sunday to put aside doubts surrounding approved COVID-19 vaccines because polls show that a significant number of Americans are reluctant to get vaccinated as the country nears. 300,000 deaths due to infection.
The first shipment of Pfizer’s Govt-19 vaccine was shipped Sunday morning from its plant in Michigan, two days after the Food and Drug Administration approved it for emergency use in the country. The Pfizer vaccine is also approved in the United Kingdom, Canada and Bahrain.
Pfizer’s Phase 3 trials reported that the vaccine was 95% effective when given in two doses three weeks apart.
In an interview with Meet the Press on Sunday, Collins called on the public to “press the reset button” to raise suspicions surrounding approved COVID-19 vaccines.
“I would like to beg people who hear this this morning to press the reset button on anything they think they know about this vaccine, which may make them very skeptical,” Collins said. “No data now.”
Covins insists on developing the COVID-19 vaccine “the most powerful effect of this incredibly serious, annual experience” when he released his appeal.
“All fair people – if they have a chance to put aside the noise and ignore all of those horrible conspiracy theories – look at this and say: I want this for my family, I like it,” Collins said. “People are dying now; How can you say that we will wait and see if it means that some terrible tragedy is going to happen? ”
Collins believes President Trump’s rhetoric – which pressured public health officials like FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn to approve the vaccine before the FDA’s announcement on Friday – makes the public skeptical about getting the Govt-19 vaccine.
“I think this is part of the skepticism, there are so many things that reflect the terrible polarity we have about everything in this country,” Collins said. “Very few if any vaccines have been studied at this level. If you want to see the facts, I think you have to be very reassuring.”
See Collins’ comments below: