It’s impossible to know if there will be a safe and effective vaccine by November, National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins told the Senate on Wednesday morning.
Let’s just say that a viable vaccine by Nov is more sigmas out than you have fingers.
NIH Director Frances Collins “science and science alone will lead the way. Otherwise, I’ll have no part of it.”
There’s going to be a vaccine by the “Special Day”. Just not a safe or effective one.
“cautious optimism,” the mantra of all things Trump. 
Would be great if an actual scientist with integrity like Collins was in charge of the CDC, instead of the weenie factotum there now. Even Larry Fishburne did a better job, and he was an actor.
It’s not impossible, and I’ll predict it now. Sometime between mid-October and the election, Trump will announce a successful, beautiful, super duper COVID vaccine.
There will be much fawning from the credulous and the stupid. It will turn out to be false, and nobody’s opinion on the Orange Menace will be shifted one iota.
What do I win?
It’s impossible to know if there will be a safe and effective vaccine by November, National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins told the Senate on Wednesday morning.
Which really means that Trump stuck a finger up his ass, pulled it out, waved it around in the breeze, and then believed he had all the proof he needed to know that a vaccine will be around soon. I understand that bleach makes a good vaccine. It’ll kill the disease fur sher.
What GS grade is “honcho”?
(it got a chuckle out of me, so this isn’t a #butactually complaint to the editor)
Information from Woodward’s book is breaking. Trump knew how deadly the Coronavirus was going to be in early February, deliberately lied and hundreds of thousands died. Unnecessarily.
Fauci calls his attention span a “minus number”. Says Trump is only interested in re-election.
The NIH has no authority on vaccine studies and a dismal track record of vaccine research, which they are supposed to be doing. They have had decades to develop a vaccine for HIV, malaria and SARS. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has accomplished far more and has infinitely more field experience in vaccine research than the NIH.
Technically speaking, of course, it’s right below big cheese and directly above top dog.
Of course none of these rational statements adresses the question why did CDC tell the states to be operationally ready to DISTRIBUTE a vaccine by Nov 1? And to waive regulatory requirements designed to protect public health in order to make that deadline?
Azar essentially admitted the date is arbitrary (but for predating election day, of course) He said it could have been November 15 or some other date. But. It. Wasn’t. QED.
Net net CDC issued a directive encouraging states to increase public health risk (by waiving requirements) for partisan political purposes. It is so blatantly and scandalously purely political as to defy credulity. But now it’s like it never happened?
“Honcho” means " group leader" in Japanese.
We brought it to the US during the Japanese occupation.
Speaking of covid-19 vaccines, AstraZeneca has ‘paused’ its trials after a volunteer developed a potentially dangerous side effect.
Dr. Atlas, Trump’s new ‘expert’ on viruses despite being a radiologist with no expertise in epidemiology, shrugged it off, saying the pause means the vaccine is safe.
But I only need one finger to respond to trump, on any subject.
I’ve got the Goya guy in the TPM replacement pool.
(I understand the My Pillow guy is still available to pool latecomers.)
There are tapes. Oh lordy, there are tapes.
A term that has such a different context in this scenario.
