Once upon a time, Donald Trump was a prominent vaccine
sceptic, frequently telling interviewers
that he believed childhood vaccinations were
to blame for what he called an autism epidemic.
Well now, with his re-election chances depending in part
on whether or not a coronavirus vaccine will be approved
in time for November's vote, the president
has changed his tune, instead calling out
his opponents for what he calls anti-vaccination rhetoric.
Meanwhile, those opponents, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris,
have been out there warning about the risks
that they see of rushing through a vaccine approval
before November's election.
Public health scientists are delighted that the president is
banging the drum for vaccines.
But they're worried that the way in which this is becoming
an election issue risks undermining confidence
not only in a coronavirus vaccine, but in vaccines
more generally.
A poll recently out by the Kaiser Family Foundation
found that over 50 per cent of Americans
say they wouldn't take a coronavirus vaccine if it
was approved before November's election.
We don't know for sure how many people
need to take a vaccine for the coronavirus
to stop spreading through the community.
But we believe it is somewhere in the range of 60 per cent
to 70 per cent.
Against this backdrop, the pharmaceutical companies
that make vaccines are beginning to get worried.
Caught between a president who is
desperate for some kind of pre-election boost
and his opponents, who are casting aspersions on the US
drug approvals process, they're worried that their reputations
might take a long-term hit.
So nine of them have come together
to put out a rare joint public statement,
saying that they won't push for approval of their vaccines
before they're confident that they
are both safe and effective.
The question is, are they willing
to hold off and stop Mr Trump getting
any kind of pre-election boost by not
submitting their plans for approval until after November?