By Blake Haas
BLOOMINGTON – Illinois Sen. Dick Durbin is trying to send a message to Congress and the White House regarding the COVID-19 vaccine.
The Senator told WJBC’s Scott Miller, politicians need to keep their hands-off vaccine developments and leave it to the scientists.
“The pharmaceutical companies put out a full-page ad in newspapers across America last week and basically what it says is ‘politicians hands-off.’ We are going to do this professionally on a medical basis so that Americans can trust the results. We don’t want to hear from critics, and we don’t want to hear from those that are cheering us on. Let us do our job, and that’s exactly the right response. I hope both Congress and the White House pay attention too.”
President Trump said during an interview Tuesday on “Fox & Friends” that a vaccine could be approved in a matter of weeks. According to experts, a vaccine is likely to become widely available by mid-2021.
“We can get through this. Let me tell you. There are three pillars to this thing. The first is testing; the second is therapy. We never found a cure for HIV/Aids, but we found therapy, and people now can live with it. And the third is a vaccine, and I pray that we will have that soon.
LISTEN: U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin speaks with WJBC’s Scott Miller about the COVID-19 vaccine, testing and therapeutics.
Blake Haas can be reached at [email protected].
