Art Caplan On New FDA COVID-19 Vaccine Guidelines

Medical ethicist Art Caplan spoke with Boston Public Radio on Wednesday about the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) new guidance on COVID-19 vaccine approval.

On Tuesday, the agency required that pharmaceutical companies developing a COVID-19 vaccine must monitor subjects two months after vaccination, to look for side effects. This makes it unlikely that a vaccine will be approved before Election Day, something urged by President Donald Trump.

“I was very pleased that the FDA issued some straight science guidelines about what they want to improve a vaccine,” Caplan said. “It pretty much ensures, in order to meet them, that there won’t be a vaccine approved before election day - but I think that’s appropriate, we’ve got to go prudently, we don’t want people to be fearful that they can’t trust the data.”

Art Caplan is the Drs. William F and Virginia Connolly Mitty Chair, and director of the Division of Medical Ethics at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine.