And he said the Trump administration was committed to making sure that every American who wants a vaccine can get one without having to pay for it.
I promise you we will use every federal tool that we have to make sure that cost is not an obstacle for people receiving what will perhaps be the most important and highly anticipated vaccine of our lives, Dr. Adams said.
Also at issue is whether schools should make coronavirus vaccination mandatory, as they do for vaccines against other diseases, like smallpox and tuberculosis. One Republican on the panel, Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, an ophthalmologist and a libertarian, insisted that no one should be forced to take a vaccine, and he made the case that the coronavirus was far less of a threat to children.
We think everything is smallpox and we say submit or else and you cant go to school unless you get this, the senator said, adding, Each individual in a free society should assess the risks of the disease versus the risk of the vaccine.
Other senators were far more concerned with how to build up trust in the vaccine amid wild conspiracy theories that have taken hold online. At one point, Senator Doug Jones, Democrat of Alabama, asked both doctors to debunk the absolutely crazy theories they have heard. Dr. Adams jumped at the chance.
Vaccines do not cause autism, he declared, in perhaps an unwitting rebuke to the president, who once espoused that false notion. People need to understand that. Weve looked at the trials. Weve looked at the studies. Vaccines do not cause autism.
Mr. Trump has pivoted from vaccine skeptic to enthusiast. In recent weeks he has variously predicted that a coronavirus vaccine would be available by Election Day or even the end of next month. Democrats on the panel grilled both Dr. Collins and Dr. Adams on the effects of such unsubstantiated predictions, and whether they would erode faith in the development process.read more
Health Official Tries to Reassure Public That Science Will Set Vaccine Approval
