White House denounces WHO's concern about COVID-19 vaccine release

The White House has pushed back concerns expressed by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines. The UN agency had shown apprehension after American health officials said that a vaccine for coronavirus might be approved without even completing full trials. US

"The United States will continue to engage our international partners to ensure we defeat this virus, but we will not be constrained by multilateral organizations influenced by the corrupt World Health Organization and China," White House spokesman Judd Deere said in a statement.

He further added that President Trump would spare “no expenses” to ensure that new coronavirus vaccine maintains FDA’s gold standard for safety and efficacy, is thoroughly tested and saves lives  Meanwhile, speaking at an interview with Financial Times,  Stephen Hahn, commissioner at FDA reportedly asserted that the agency was prepared to authorize a COVID-19 vaccine before late-stage Phase three clinical trials were completed, as long as officials were convinced that “benefits outweighs the risk”.

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'Don't move too quick'

However, WHO officials, on August 31 said moving too quickly to make a vaccine widely available could pose risks. "If you move too quickly to vaccinate ... millions of people, you may miss certain adverse effects," said Mike Ryan, the head of WHO's emergencies program. Another WHO expert, Soumya Swaminathan, meanwhile said that the FDA's approach was "not something that you do very lightly."  Though, global health agency has touted an early realase of vaccine, it has also stated that great care must be taken and untested drugs and vaccines should not be approved lightly.

Last month, Russia announced the world’s first COVID vaccine, but the final human trials are still underway. Countries like Iran have claimed that they wish to wait for the opinion of the international community and the approval of the World Health Organisation before entering negotiations with Russia for their prospective vaccine. 

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