DeLauro Condemns the Administration Politicizing COVID-19 Vaccines and Therapeutics

WASHINGTON, D.C. —Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (CT-03) released the following statement on the administration's attacks on the FDA and the advancement of a coronavirus treatment without proper testing and approval:

"When science and fact are manipulated by elected officials, our democracy suffers. Administration officials led by President Trump are placing this election above human lives, and in the process, they are actively dismantling the American public's trust in a vaccine.

"To imply that vaccine creation is somehow tied to the election is delusional. To threaten FDA and NIH officials with relocation if they fail to 'see the light' is dangerous. To publicize and politicize coronavirus vaccines and therapeutics unsupported by data and without proper testing will be deadly.

"The president should be spending less time tweeting conspiracy theories and more time creating a plan for vaccine distribution. The Vice President still has not responded to calls for a public plan, because as far as we know they don't have one.

"Believe me, I want a vaccine just as bad as everyone else, but unlike the president, I'm not willing to risk lives with an unsafe and ineffective vaccine. The American people see through his gaslighting."