On the recordSeptember 17, 2020
I would just remind the gentleman, with all due respect to Dr. Redfield, he is not the head of the FDA. The FDA is the agency that approves drugs, and in fact, the FDA is the agency working every day with these companies. There is a very strict protocol for going through phases of testing. Now, one thing that is important to point out on the testing, because, again, some people wonder because Operation Warp Speed has gotten us to a point quicker, maybe in the history of the world, at finding a vaccine for a disease we knew nothing about 8 months ago, but the reason they are doing it is not because they are cutting corners. No one in science that I have heard has suggested that they are cutting corners because they are not. They have strict protocols. What they are doing, number one, the President put real money in place behind making sure that each of these drug companies has direct communication with the FDA every step of the way so they know if tests need to be run on more people or different demographic groups, as is done with other drugs, they can do it quickly. They have a wide range of people willing to be tested. To the tribute of all Americans, over 300,000 Americans have signed up for these tests. This isn't being tested on just a few people. Sometimes, a drug takes years and years to get to market for a lot of reasons. One is red tape.…
