Fauxi drags his feet on this in hopes his buddies in Big Pharma come out with some new expensive drug real soon
“Fauxi”
Now that’s funny right there.
No doubt, some are making that very calculation. And, no doubt, there are deep-state foot-draggers in the various federal health agencies.
However, clinical testing is a necessary step in approving any medicine. These tests are proceeding at hyper-speed. It normally takes several years (often, seven) to take a new drug through all the approval processes. These drugs were tested for other purposes; so, AFAIK, the current testing is focused mainly on efficacy.
In 1976, an inadequately-tested vaccine was administered to about 40 million Americans, to protect against the Swine Flu outbreak. Later, it was found to have little positive effects on outcomes; and it caused many people to develop Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS).
That bit of history haunts all infectious-disease officials today. They have to weigh the risks of rushing, vs. the risk of following all the protocols.
FWIW (very little, probably), I’m very hopeful about these new treatments — but, I don’t think it’s unreasonable to do some clinical trials, before expanding use beyond patients who are dying.
My prediction is some Big Pharam, after a major stock buy from a bunch of congress critters, comes out with a combo Hydroxychloroquine and Azithromycin treatment. This of course gets a rush patent and is then declared to be the only authorized treatment by the FDA and CDC. Treatment will be in the range of $4k to $10k.
Okay, I’ll take off my tinfoil hat. But I’m keeping it close by.
Precisely! Mega BUMP!!