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“Three years ago, President Trump publicly announced his skepticism about vaccines and tried to launch an anti-vaccine working group. Now he suddenly likes vaccines. Help me, Mr. President. If you want something, start to respect science and its laws. “

Holden said.

Outbreak is urgent, Trump asks for vaccine

At 9 pm EST on March 11, Trump delivered a national speech on the new crown pneumonia epidemic at the White House, announcing a 30-day trip to many European countries except the UK from midnight on March 13. ban. However, he emphasized again that for most Americans, the risk of the outbreak is very low.

However, shortly after his speech, the US epidemic hit the hot search again and again: the famous Hollywood star Tom Hanks was diagnosed with the new crown virus; due to player infection, the NBA announced the suspension of the season ; The US Congress confirmed the first case, and several members of the self-isolation.

As of the evening of March 11, a total of 1327 cases of new coronary pneumonia were diagnosed in the United States, covering 43 states and Washington, DC; deaths rose to 38; and 24 states and Washington, DC have declared emergency. CNN pointed out that the United States has sounded the national pandemic alert of the new crown pneumonia epidemic.

“Do me a favor and speed up! Faster!”

This is what U.S. President Donald Trump said at the Legislative Assembly of the American County Association. Trump also said the same to executives of pharmaceutical companies regarding the development of a new crown virus vaccine.

Holden believes that Anthony Fauci, the long-time director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has been telling Trang repeatedly President Pu, it takes at least a year and a half to develop a vaccine, and executives from pharmaceutical companies have conveyed the same message. Obviously, Trump believes that simply repeating his demands will change the outcome.

Anthony FauciBig Data (Source: Tsinghua University AMiner)

While the steps required to develop a vaccine may be more efficient, many of them still rely on the necessary biological and chemical processes. Holden sarcastically said, “So Trump may say: Do me a favor and speed up the crank engine.”

Please respect science

Holden says he doesn’t expect politicians to know Maxwell’s equations or Diels-Alder chemical reactions in electromagnetics, but when you don’t like science, you can’t insult it, and then suddenly insist on some science Something not immediately available.

In the past 4 years, President Trump has significantly cut his scientific budget, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (CDC) And the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) . The government has ignored the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the stalled appointments of directors of the Office of Science and Technology Policy-all to support political goals-and the country has hurt and ignored these 4 years science.

Now the president suddenly needs science again. However, people have spent centuries to clarify the fundamental principles that govern the natural world-evolution, gravity, quantum mechanics-laying the foundation for understanding what we can and cannot do.

Over the years, scientists have accumulated and analyzed evidence, applied inductive reasoning, and submitted their findings to their peers for critical review.Proven scientific knowledge. These processes are responding to the new coronary pneumonia crisis through international cooperation at an unprecedented rate.

Development of vaccines must be based on basic scientific evidence, which can take a year and a half or more. Executives of pharmaceutical companies may have a variety of motivations to achieve this goal quickly, but they also know that achieving this goal cannot violate the laws of nature.

Holden therefore believes that, while disregarding science, requiring rapid development of vaccines is very discordant.

Trump cuts funding for scientific research

A month ago, US President Donald Trump submitted to Congress a budget proposal for fiscal year 2021 of up to $ 4.8 trillion, which involved drastic cuts to the budgets of major scientific institutions, mostly double-digit cuts. This is the fourth consecutive year that Trump has proposed to cut federal funding for scientific research.

According to the FY2021 budget proposal, federal government spending on scientific research will fall by 9%, or $ 13.78 billion, to $ 14.185 billion. Among them, investment in scientific infrastructure, large facilities and special equipment will drop by 40% to US $ 3.6 billion; basic research expenditures will decrease by 6% to US $ 40.638 billion.

Ross McKinney, chief scientific officer of the American College of Medical Schools, pointed out that the number of new and competitive research projects funded by the National Institutes of Health will be reduced from 11,874 this year to 1,874. When the odds of funding for the proposal are already low, “This will be a devastating blow to the biomedical field in the United States.” McKinney wrote on Twitter.

Early this year, Science magazine predicted events that could make headlines in the new year’s scientific research and policy areas. It states that the November US presidential election will determine the fate of many scientists and the direction of global climate change policy.

Science magazine believes that the ongoing political turmoil in Britain, the United States and other countries in the new year will complicate the work of many researchers. Brexit will expose British scientists to the possibility of losing EU scientific funding and research collaborators; in the United States, the November presidential election will determine the role of scientists in future policy reviews, and many experts on climate change and environmental issues Long dissatisfied, saying the Trump administration has been ignoring scientific evidence.

Climate change policy, in particular, will face a critical moment this year. The Trump administration has always opposed regulations that reduce fossil fuel emissions, which has also become a major attack topic for Democratic challengers.

On November 3, 2020, one day after the end of the US presidential election, the United States, the world’s second largest greenhouse gas emitter, will officially withdraw from the Paris Climate Agreement. However, if a Democratic president is born, he may return to the Paris Climate Agreement soon after taking office in 2021 < span class = "text-remarks" label = "Remarks"> (Click for details: Trump ’s new budget cuts research funding again. How will the November presidential election affect the fate of scientists?) .

H. Holden Thorp, the editor-in-chief of Science magazine, publicly shouted that Trump respects science, and it can be seen that Trump did hurt the hearts of people in science. Anyway, we still have to figure out how to survive the epidemic.

Reference:

https://science.sciencemag.org/content/early/2020/03/11 / science.abb6502

https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/-pscyJQqogmCoBBlCBTVDA

The article is from the WeChat public account: Academic Headline (ID: SciTouTiao) , author: academic Jun