How the Supreme Court resolves the Trump v. Biden election fraud case will carry an immediate impact upon American lives, for the candidates’ COVID-19 vaccine distribution systems philosophically and operationally diverge.  

Trump logically prioritizes first responders, medical providers and seniors; in contrast, one prominent Biden advisor (Ezekiel  Emanuel, M.D.) would shunt aside seniors—the most threatened cohort of the virus—because he perceives life after age-75 to be worthless and a financial drain on society.

Democrats, such as House Majority leader Nancy Pelosi, and New York Governor Cuomo  have routinely derided the stellar results of  President Trump’s COVID-19 vaccine Warp Speed initiative, mocking any Warp Speed-created vaccine as politically motivated and unsafe, perhaps mortally.   Yet,  less than two weeks after  the presidential election,  two drug companies (Pfizer and Miderna) have announced development of highly effective COVID-19 vaccines, poised for mass distribution.

(Curiously, the past CEO of Biden’s newly exposed corrupt Cancer Charity, was the third top executive at Pfizer; this raises the possibly that announcement of the efficacy of Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine was deliberately delayed until six days post-election.)

Recall Democrat Mayor Andrew Cuomo sent infected seniors to their death in droves, by mandating they be sent from hospitals to senior care facilities and nursing homes.  Cuomo’s mandate killed not only those patients, but other residents at those facilities.  His mandate also defied logic, as Trump had sent New York a floating hospital ship and constructed a huge fully equipped temporary hospital for COVID-19 patients.  Both remained almost empty and unused while the seniors died. 

In Pennsylvania, Democrat Governor Tom Wolf decreed likewise, sending COVID-19 patients away from hospitals to senior facilities, while his Secretary of Health yanked her mom from her senior home and put her up in a hotel.

Historically, government responded to disease and to the need to safeguard drug manufacture and supply. So how can faceless, unaccountable bureaucratic behemoths—and not doctors—now dictate the availability and price of drug therapies?

Mass drug manufacture has evolved from centuries of herbal witchcraft where cures were deemed magical, to small local pharmacologists where creator and patient were personally connected, to large mostly-offshore manufacturing operations.

United States’ drug control laws began in the mid-19th century to control the import of contaminated, worthless products.  This was followed by laws designed to ensure drugs were not laced with narcotics and alcohol or deviated greatly from their advertised benefits.  Next came the classification of prescription and over-the-counter drugs,  with the former strictly controlled.  The FDA was required to examine all new drugs for safety, and the Delaney Clause was invoked to ensure none caused cancer.  If a medication was not declared unsafe within 180 days, the drug could be sold.

An FDA mandate that a drug be proved “effective” came into law in 1962 because of horrific birth defects caused by thalidomide taken by pregnant women discovered in Britain; as a result, the United States’ Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) was empowered for oversight over all aspects of the drug industry … controlling human testing, manufacturing, advertising and distribution. More than a quarter century ago, the authors independently railed against such hegemony, with *Lechter* decrying administration exceeding Congressional authorization and Sklaroff discussing regulatory backlogs from the perspective of tobacco use.  For decades, The Wall Street Journal has concomitantly contained opinion pieces exposing the needless delay of new drug approval at the FDA  

The FDA not only prevents release of unsafe agents, but its overreach mandates proof of efficacy that places available drug therapy in America behind its availability in other countries; moreover, it has also fomented creation of a two-tier price system mandating that Americans pay far more for new drugs than their foreign counterparts.

American response to epidemics has evolved from what was done in seventeenth century Rome, which was then facing the far more deadly bubonic plague; its authority to manage an epidemic was and continues to be delegated to government institutions rather than to local doctors.  Yet, pandemic response has not evolved over the centuries, as governments have implemented universal quarantine, travel prohibitions, and targeted shutdowns.

Government bureaucrats have created and implemented public health policy, with doctors often relegated to functioning as intermediaries between the patient and government.  Currently, a governmental group will be distributing FDA-approved COVID vaccines to all the states which will then be allotted to hospitals for administration.  The doctors will have no say in the vaccine type they receive.

President Trump pledged and/or fronted COVID vaccine funding. His program fast-tracked the FDA drug approval process without sacrificing quality.   The control groups in the Phase Three human  trials have numbered at least 10,000 participants - a huge number.  President Trump has guaranteed that every single American will be vaccinated free of charge. Some of Biden’s advisors are clamoring for international distribution of the COVID vaccine at the onset.

Thus your life may depend on the outcome of Trump v Biden.

** Lechter, Regulatory Overkill and the AIDS Patient, 1 Alb Law Journal of Sci & Tech 1991 131-175

Lynne Lechter is a practicing litigator and business/international attorney

Photo illustration by Monica Showalter with use of Pixabay public domain images.