Vaccine announcement was delayed to scupper Trump’s second term

[Dongdingdong]

This is what Donald Trump is claiming. And I have to say, I’m no fan of Trump but the timing does seem very convenient. AIBU to think his suspicions may have some grounds?

The vaccine announcement timing is neither here nor there. For most of us vaguely sensible Americans voting in this election, what mattered was the vaccine rollout process, plus what we do between now and the vaccine rollout.

I am relieved that Biden will be in power when the vaccines are rolled out.

I'm relieved that the process will be overseen by a competent president who manages a competent team that actually believes in science.

I'm relieved that the rollout will not be overseen by a president who harbours grudges and has no hesitation in allowing hundreds of thousands to die.

I'm relieved that state governors and legislatures who choose to follow Trump in their denial of Covid and science will soon be in the wilderness.

I'm very sad that Trump was in power for this past year, but relieved we are moving on.

And? So what? Trump is, in case you haven't noticed, a self interested snake oil salesman and lying charlatan. He's not fit for purpose. Hopefully we're rid of the orange disaster zone for good.

@Dongdingdong

To those asking why would it matter if they did... well for one thing, maybe because it’s pretty damn worrying to have big pharma companies playing politics and directly trying to influence elections? Just a thought...

Not nearly as worrying as having the narcissist Trump murdering Americans, by refusing to start handing over to Biden so he could tackle the pandemic.

Of course he was right about the announcement being made, although it’s not quite clear from the quote if they were talking about it being announced or being widely available in which case both would be correct. He would have been getting daily classified briefings on the progress of all the vaccines, as will other world leaders.

Do I think for a second that any team would have delayed publication and risked not being first to publish in order to damage him - Not a chance.

Do I think that big pharma would prefer Biden to Trump given that Trump seems to have actively put the interests of large companies over that se of the American people. - Absolutely not!

@turnitonagain

Due to early and postal voting the announcement would have had to be 2-3 weeks BEFORE election day to help Trump.

Good point.

@TinyGhost

I don’t follow this logic..

Are you implying that more people would have voted for the Republican Party candidate if the results of a vaccine trail had been announced several days earlier?

I don’t get this at all. There have been several vaccines in development. It is good news, but not a victory for the US incumbent.

THIS!

While I have admired most of the arguments/posts on this thread (especially Merchants, Rousette, and Jamie), I am failing to understand how the OP thinks she/he has a point.

So what if the announcement had been made right before the election. So what! What difference would it have made to voters?

Do you really think that sane Americans would suddenly forget the past four years, 260, 000 civillians dying due to his disregard for their heath and safety, his head games in refusing to supply PPE to certain states and all his lies.

According to the OP a vaccine is announced by scientists (hint: trump is not a scientist, most people know this) and Americans suddenly say, 'Yay, trump has saved us, let's vote for him'. You must think Americans in general are very stupid simple people. I, on the other hand, think you are very wrong.

@Dongdingdong

To those asking why would it matter if they did... well for one thing, maybe because it’s pretty damn worrying to have big pharma companies playing politics and directly trying to influence elections? Just a thought...

You need to think about what you're saying here.

If they did deliberately delay an announcement that would be influencing by abstention at most.

For example....man at work who I don't like because he is self serving but is up for promotion and would take credit for a project I completed. I decide therefore not to complete the project until the day after the promotion

Have I done something wrong? Why should he benefit unfairly from my work???

I think... and correct me if I'm wrong... the OP perhaps guesses that some undecideds with GOP/Dems might have been swayed towards voting for Trump after hearing a vaccine was in.

Because, undoubtedly, he would say that it was all down to him, without him the vaccine would not have happened, that he was the key figure to bring this vaccine to the American people blah blah...

Already Pfizer have called him out on this but his enablers have said that the vaccine should be called 'the trump vaccine'.

I, for one, am glad it wasn't announced before the election because for 24 hours it was big news, and I wanted the election to go on unimpeded and he was spreading so much lies and disinformation on the road prior to the election anyway, without him lying about this and there not being time to rebut. It was fair to everyone to have this announcement afterwards.

Do you really think that sane Americans would suddenly forget the past four years, 260, 000 civillians dying due to his disregard for their heath and safety, his head games in refusing to supply PPE to certain states and all his lies.

Over 70m of your 'sane Americans' actually did vote for him, and it would have taken only a very small proportion to have changed their minds to have made a big difference.

Fairybatman
Of course he was right about the announcement being made, although it’s not quite clear from the quote if they were talking about it being announced or being widely available in which case both would be correct. He would have been getting daily classified briefings on the progress of all the vaccines, as will other world leaders.

Yes, but other world leaders may actually have read them; Trump probably didn't. He hadn't bothered to turn up for a Covid briefing for five months, at the time of the election; might that have been because he neither knew nor cared about Covid, and simply couldn't be bothered to pretend?

@AskingQuestionsAllTheTime

Fairybatman Of course he was right about the announcement being made, although it’s not quite clear from the quote if they were talking about it being announced or being widely available in which case both would be correct. He would have been getting daily classified briefings on the progress of all the vaccines, as will other world leaders.

Yes, but other world leaders may actually have read them; Trump probably didn't. He hadn't bothered to turn up for a Covid briefing for five months, at the time of the election; might that have been because he neither knew nor cared about Covid, and simply couldn't be bothered to pretend?

Agree - just pointing out that it’s not exactly surprising he was able to get it right. Doesn’t mark him out as a genius!

Do you really think that sane Americans would suddenly forget the past four years, 260, 000 civillians dying due to his disregard for their heath and safety, his head games in refusing to supply PPE to certain states and all his lies.

It's not the sane Americans you need to worry about though. You seem to have not noticed how many Americans did vote for him - twice.

Let's also remember that many people this year voted early by postal vote; and those most concerned about Covid were particularly likely to be in this group. The announcement would have had to be WEEKS earlier to make much difference.

@FishesaPlenty

Do you really think that sane Americans would suddenly forget the past four years, 260, 000 civillians dying due to his disregard for their heath and safety, his head games in refusing to supply PPE to certain states and all his lies.

It's not the sane Americans you need to worry about though. You seem to have not noticed how many Americans did vote for him - twice.

You missed my point completely. The Americans who voted for him were going to vote for him, vaccine or no. An announcement would not change that.

My point is that the people who were choosing NOT to vote for him would hardly be swayed by a vaccine announcement (that he had nothing to do with), so who gives a crap when it was announced. So there is no point to the OPs accertion that the imagined 'delay' would have made a difference to trump losing the election.

And yes, I'm well aware that 70 million voted for him, did I include them in my definition of sane Americans? Funny I can't seem to see that anywhere in my post.