Trump asks drug companies to prove efficacy of their covid-19 vaccines

President Donald Trump on Monday called on pharmaceutical companies to release data supporting the effectiveness of their COVID-19 treatments and vaccines. In a message on Truth Social, he demanded that such information be given to both health authorities and the public.

"With CDC being ripped apart over this question, I want the answer, and I want it NOW," the president wrote, referring to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He further added that the pharmaceuticals "show me GREAT numbers and results, but they don’t seem to be showing them to many others."

Public health tensions

Trump's pronouncement comes on the heels of the dismissal of Susan Monarez as CDC director, which occurred last week amid internal clashes with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Her leadership has been marked by her critical stance toward vaccines and reforms she has pushed for at the agency.

The move generated questioning from former officials. Nine former CDC directors and acting directors warned in an op-ed in The New York Times that the changes introduced by Kennedy are alarming.

Critical voices on Kennedy's management

Adding to these warnings was Demetre Daskalakis, former head of the CDC's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. Speaking to CNN, he noted that Kennedy never received reports from his team about diseases such as measles, COVID-19, and influenza. "No one from my center has ever briefed him on any of those topics," he said, before adding, "Perhaps he has alternate experts that he may trust more than the experts at CDC that the rest of the world regards as the best scientists in the areas."