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# Hahn Summoned to White House About Vaccine Delay
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/hahn-summoned-to-white-house-about-vaccine-delay/
- Published: 2020-12-01T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T16:38:22.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: FDA Policy/General, #legacy-id-D5148196

President Trump had his chief of staff **Mark Meadows** summon FDA commissioner **Stephen Hahn** to the White House 12/1 to learn why the agency has not approved or authorized the use of Covid-19 vaccines after promising data was recently reported on their efficacy. Despite the appearance of political pressure being directed at FDA, Trump reportedly wants answers as to why FDA’s reviews are taking so long.

Last month, Hahn was said to be on thin ice with the president and HHS secretary **Alex Azar** after Pfizer’s earlier announcement of promising Covid-19 vaccine data ([see earlier story](https://www.fdaweb.com/pfizer-says-positive-results-in-abrocitinib-study/)). The Trump Administration has fired several senior officials at various Departments in the wake of the presidential election for a lack of loyalty, and Hahn had already irked both Trump and Azar earlier over the agency’s expanded requirements for safety information for ongoing vaccine trials that they believed delayed any vaccine from gaining approval before the election.

In a fit of rage, Trump called Hahn in anger shortly after the Pfizer announcement, calling into question the timing of the announcement soon after the election, according to a *Washington Post* [article](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/11/11/trump-angry-about-pfizer-vaccine/?ref=fdaweb.com). The phone call was followed up by a Trump Twitter post saying the vaccine data should have been announced earlier by FDA, “not for political purposes, but for saving lives! The FDA and the democrats didn’t want to have me get a vaccine win, prior to the election, so instead it came out five days later — As I’ve said all along!”

As it stands now, FDA is reviewing a Pfizer emergency use authorization request (EUA), which will be discussed at a 12/10 advisory committee meeting. Any action on the EUA is not likely to occur until after the advisory panel weighs in. On 11/30, Moderna filed its EUA for its Covid-19 vaccine mRNA-1273, and an advisory committee review is expected on 12/17.

“We want to move quickly because this is a national emergency, but we will make sure that our scientists take the time they need to make an appropriate decision,” Hahn told *Axios* when asked to comment about his White House meeting. “It is our job to get this right and make the correct decision regarding vaccine safety and efficacy.”