Media panned for past negative coverage of Trump's COVID vaccine predictions: They keep 'moving the goalposts'

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Pfizer completes coronavirus vaccine safety review, will apply for FDA approval

GOP Doctors Caucus member Rep. Buddy Carter and New York City practicing physician Dr. Devi Nampiaparampil react to Pfizer announcement.

Pfizer contradicted the mainstream media’s narrative that President Trump wasn’t realistic about the speed of a coronavirus vaccine on Wednesday by announcing its vaccine candidate met all primary efficacy endpoints in a Phase 3 clinical trial, and that it planned to file for emergency use authorization “within days.”

Pfizer's vaccine isn't the only one that could destroy the media's pre-election talking points, as Moderna CEO Stephane Bancel said on Monday 20 million doses of his company's vaccine will be available by the end of the year. Some media critics are now reassessing the mostly negative coverage of Trump's prior optimistic pronouncements about a vaccine. 

“Trump was universally panned by the media for saying during the second presidential debate that a vaccine would be coming by the end of the year, if not in a matter of weeks,” Spectator USA Washington editor Amber Athey told Fox News.

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ABC News fact checked Trump’s debate claim that “We have a vaccine that's coming. It's ready. It's going to be announced within weeks. And it's going to be delivered,” by reporting that “A COVID-19 vaccine isn't ready right now,” while accusing Trump of overstating vaccine readiness timelines.

The Miami Herald cited scientific experts who claimed “there’s no way that’s happening, at least not with a vaccine that has proven safe and effective through appropriately timed clinical trials” and countless pundits and media outlets dismissed Trump’s comment.

“He was right and they were wrong. Still, when Pfizer announced its preliminary trials had been overwhelmingly effective, the media started debating whether or not the company was a part of the White House’s Operation Warp Speed and thus questioning whether the Trump administration deserved any credit for fast-tracking vaccine development,” Athey said. “They will keep moving the goalposts to avoid praising him for anything.”

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Meanwhile, Pfizer had previously said it expects to produce up to 50 million doses in 2020.

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Trump’s comments during the debate were hardly the only time the president and members of his administration were mocked by the mainstream media for appearing too positive when discussing vaccines. Back in May then-Secretary of Defense Mark Esper stood with the president during a Rose Garden event and promised a vaccine by the end of 2020, prompting MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow to essentially accuse the administration of lying.

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“Boy, would that be amazing,” Maddow said after mocking Esper’s comments. “When you speak as the defense secretary, of the United States of American, there is some inherent gravitas to your words. We assume that you are speaking on the basis of information that supports your public assertions.”

Maddow then read a Task & Purpose story reporting a Pentagon memo warned it was a “real possibility” that a vaccine wouldn’t arrive until summer 2021.

Maddow said, “I think we’re now callused and immune to the lies and the happy talk from the White House, right?

CNN poo-pooed Trump’s September suggestion that every American could receive a vaccine by April by quoting an anonymous source in a report headlined, “Trump says every American can get a coronavirus vaccine by April, but health experts say that's not likely.”

“After Trump's news conference, an administration health official told CNN much depends on the vaccine development process which is still underway. ‘Are they going to be safe and effective? the official asked,” CNN reported. “The official said Americans may still not be able to get back to normal life until the third or fourth quarter of next year.”

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Conservative strategist Chris Barron told Fox News the way things played out was "entirely predictable" on the part of the media. 

"Pre-election, the media openly mocked efforts to get a vaccine this year and made wildly irresponsible statements about safety concerns around such a vaccine; now that they think Biden will be president, suddenly a vaccine this year is nothing short of a glorious miracle,” Barron said, adding that he "would love to see a legacy media outlet take responsibility for their weaponized shameless media coverage" designed to hurt Trump.

NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck told Fox News that the mainstream media spent months “casting doubt on both the hypothetical accuracy of [a vaccine] and likelihood a vaccine would be ready so soon,” but they shouldn’t have underestimated the administration.

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“The liberal media have yet another instance where they should admit they were both embarrassed and wrong. Worse yet, you could feel some at CNN, MSNBC, and their friends played anti-vaxxers by preemptively questioning whether it'd work based on the current president,” Houck said. “And yet, the companies have made clear that they've received no inappropriate pressure and compromised a commitment to accuracy. But tin-foil hats for everybody, I guess.”

Houck feels the negative coverage of Trump's vaccine timelines was “one of the media's worst” narratives of the year.

“It went beyond the left-right paradigm and directly at what many believe will be our ticket out of this pandemic. Of course, they're incapable of true self-reflection; so don't expect any real apologies,” Houck said.

Fox News’ Alexandria Hein and Madeline Farber contributed to this report.