Big pharma’s safety pledge isn’t enough to build public confidence in COVID-19 vaccine – here’s what will
Americans are increasingly concerned that regulators and manufacturers will rush a vaccine to market without an adequate review.
That prompted nine vaccine front-runners, including Pfizer and Merck, to promise to abide by clinical and ethical standards in an effort to increase the public’s confidence in any vaccine that ultimately comes to market.
As a scholar of law, public health and bioethics, I have extensively studied vaccine policy, as well as the laws and regulations governing human subject research and FDA-regulated medical products. In my view, the pledge is little more than a public relations strategy, with companies simply reaffirming that they’ll follow FDA guidelines and standard scientific practices.
While I doubt the biotech pledge will do much to increase public confiden...