A majority say President Trump is interfering with the coronavirus efforts of the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
A recently released Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that, by a margin of 55% to 39%, most respondents think Trump is intervening in the FDA’s review of a coronavirus vaccine. A similar margin of people, 54% to 40%, say he is swaying the CDC as it issues coronavirus guidelines. The poll surveyed 1,207 adults from Oct 7-12.
The White House recently got into a battle with the FDA over safety guidelines for the coronavirus vaccine. The White House balked at guidelines that require vaccine developers to submit two months of data on the safety of a vaccine before the FDA will give it an emergency use authorization. Eventually, the FDA prevailed.
The drama seems to have taken a toll on the trust in the FDA. Sixty-two percent of respondents were either very worried or somewhat worried that the FDA would rush to approve a vaccine.
The CDC fared better, with 72% saying they trusted the agency to issue guidelines based on scientific evidence. However, only 32% said they trusted the agency a great deal, and 27% said they trusted the CDC very little or not at all.
