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President Trump on Monday called on drug companies to make their data on COVID-19 vaccines public, arguing that the debate over whether the shots saved lives has “ripped apart” the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“It is very important that the Drug Companies justify the success of their various Covid Drugs. Many people think they are a miracle that saved Millions of lives. Others disagree! With CDC being ripped apart over this question, I want the answer, and I want it NOW,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post.
“I have been shown information from Pfizer, and others, that is extraordinary, but they never seem to show those results to the public. Why not??? They go off to the next ‘hunt’ and let everyone rip themselves apart, including Bobby Kennedy Jr. and CDC, trying to figure out the success or failure of the Drug Companies Covid work.”
In 2020, Trump’s administration launched Operation Warp Speed to accelerate vaccine development and distribution during the pandemic. By 2025, at least 70% of Americans had received two doses, with more than 711 million doses administered in the US, according to the World Health Organization.
The vaccines, produced by Moderna, Pfizer, and Johnson & Johnson, were criticized as early as 2021 for not preventing breakthrough infections. Trump, however, often praised their development, calling them a “Christmas miracle” as production ramped up in late 2020.
Public opinion has shifted since then. A May poll from the Kaiser Family Foundation found just 30% of Republicans consider the shots safe, compared to 55% of independents and 87% of Democrats.
Within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), vaccine policy has fueled internal conflict. Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. recently ended emergency authorization for most COVID vaccines, limiting eligibility to exclude healthy adults and children. CDC Director Susan Monarez was fired less than a month into her tenure, reportedly over disagreements with Kennedy’s stance on vaccines.
Monarez’s attorneys, Abbe Lowell and Mark Zaid, said she was dismissed for refusing to fire other health officials and for supporting vaccines. “When CDC Director Susan Monarez refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts, she chose protecting the public over serving a political agenda. For that, she has been targeted,” they said in a statement.
Her departure triggered resignations from top CDC officials, including Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, Dr. Dan Jernigan, and Dr. Deb Houry.
Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic, once called the COVID vaccine “the deadliest vaccine ever made” but later said, “If vaccines are working for somebody, I’m not going to take them away.”
Trump, meanwhile, has maintained that his administration’s efforts were pivotal. In 2020, he declared: “We are delivering millions of doses of a safe and effective vaccine that will soon end this terrible pandemic and save millions and millions of lives.”
House Republicans are also investigating whether the release of vaccines was intentionally delayed before the 2020 election. In July, they subpoenaed a former Pfizer scientist to testify on the matter.
