The director of the National Institutes of Health on Sunday pleaded that if there is any doubt about the COVID-19 vaccine, “press the reset button.”
“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 skeptical,” Dr. Francis Collins told NBC News’ Meet the Press. “
“It was discussed at a public meeting, all the details about safety and performance for anyone who wants to see it. It is the most powerful consequence of the incredibly intense annual experience to create this,” the NIH leader said.
The trucks were unloaded from a Michigan warehouse Sunday morning and approved by the Federal Food and Drug Administration with the first shipment of vaccines developed by Pfizer, meaning some Americans are expected to receive their first shots Monday.
The epidemic has killed nearly 300,000 Americans and more than 16 million have been infected as a distribution effort.
“I think there are very few vaccines that have been studied at this level,” Collins stressed. “So, if you want to see the facts, I think you have to be very reassuring. Putting all the noise aside, yes, suspicions caused by possible interference from one source or another do not all determine the outcome.”