US FDA Safety Guidelines Likely To Push COVID-19 Vaccine Authorization Past Election

The U.S. 💊Food and Drug Administration told coronavirus vaccine developers on Tuesday it wants at least two months of safety data before authorizing emergency use, a requirement that would likely push any U.S. vaccine availability past the Nov. 3 presidential election.

A senior administration official confirmed the White House had approved the plan, which undercuts President Donald Trump’s hopes of getting a vaccine before voters go to polls.

The FDA released the guidance laying out more stringent recommendations for drugmakers hoping to apply for an emergency use authorization (EUA) for their experimental vaccines.

The New York Times reported on Monday that the guidelines had been blocked by the White House. The senior administration official said there he had been no holdup of the guidance, which underwent normal regulatory review.

The move is the latest effort by U.S. officials to play down politics around the vaccine and assure public safety.

“Being open and clear about the circumstances under which the issuance of an emergency use authorization for a COVID-19 vaccine would be appropriate and is critical to building public confidence and ensuring the use of COVID-19 vaccines once available,” Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA division responsible for approving vaccines, said in a statement.

The White House could still force authorization of a vaccine without that additional safety data. Doing so would put it in open disagreement with the FDA and its career scientists, and add to the perception that politics was playing a role in pushing out a vaccine.

If the agency follows its own guidelines, it is unlikely to authorize a vaccine before sometime in late November. It wants two months of data from half of a trial’s volunteers.

Pfizer Inc <PFE.N> and partner BioNTech <22UAy.F> are expected to be the first to announce results from a late-stage U.S. clinical trial.