Pfizer intentionally waited until after the election to announce that its coronavirus vaccine late-stage clinical trial has produced promising early results, both President Donald Trump and his son Donald Trump Jr. charged.
“As I have long said, @Pfizer and the others would only announce a Vaccine after the Election, because they didn’t have the courage to do it before,” the president wrote on Twitter.
His son sent out a tweet with a similar message, stating that “The timing of this is pretty amazing. Nothing nefarious about the timing of this at all right?”
Business Insider pointed out that they offered no evidence for their claims and that a Pfizer spokesperson said the timing had nothing to do with the election.
Pfizer explained that the data it announced on Monday came from an analysis that occurred while the vaccine trial continues and was carried out by an independent group of scientists. Those scientists did their analysis this past Sunday and told Pfizer of the results that day.
The president had earlier sent out tweets praising Pfizer's announcement, calling the results “such great news” and Vice President Mike Pence said that the accomplishment was due to the Trump administration’s efforts.
But Pfizer’s head of vaccine development told The New York Times that “We were never part of the Warp Speed,” the multi-billion-dollar government effort to fund a coronavirus vaccine. “We have never taken any money from the U.S. government, or from anyone.”