This was a very low turnout primary election, that's probably the only reason all ballot measures passed. Many people didn't even know there was an election (not much media coverage), and of those who did know, a significant number of them didn't feel motivated enough to vote. I haven't seen a final number yet, but anticipated turnout was around 25% or less.
Governor Wolf already announced a rollback of all restrictions at the end of the month (except masking, which hinges on vaccination). This was seen as a sudden move given how strict he has been, but was likely done to make it look like it was his own decision, rather than allowing his emergency powers to be rescinded under this new amendment.
a drug that doesn't even have FDA approval.
This right here is the glaring problem, and many try to deflect by calling you an antivaxxer. An unapproved drug might be perfectly safe and efficacious. Or it might have multiple safety issues which require warnings up and down the package insert. The point is that we don't know, and the data isn't available yet.
And for anyone who wants to appeal to expert authority here, I've actually dealt with the FDA application, review, and approval process. So I fully understand the difference between an approved drug product and one under EUA.
lose his Ivy League scholarship
Only the best and brightest.
Extremely likely, between the unchanged venue and the number of politicians who felt the need to weigh in (Mayor, Congresswoman, President).
But the damage is done. We were already (sadly) moving in this direction, but this is a watershed moment. This verdict cements that your rights vary based on your skin color, and inflects severe damage to police departments across the country. There are resignations happening now, and good luck hiring white police officers for as long as this trial remains in memory.
I know more than one officer resigning over this, including a guy less than two years from securing his pension. This country is so far gone, people are willing to walk away from their careers because that's the better option.
I typically link to the Federal Register when referring to documents like this. The Federal Register notice and the associated Regulations.gov docket frequently constitute most of the the statutorily-required public notice and comment procedure. For example:
Docket No. FDA-2020-N-2358
To put it generally, I have some experience with the FDA application and approval process. People often misunderstand the risk-benefit calculus (I loathe this phrase) FDA uses when approving a new drug product. When dealing with conventional approvals on an accelerated pathway, there is reduced clinical, stability, and other data. FDA is willing to forgo this for either something that is already well-understood (there are special types of applications for this), or for something with an immediate medical need. Emergency Use takes this even further and side-steps much of the typical review process altogether, because the need is determined to be that dire. This doesn't necessarily mean something is or isn't safe, just that there is much less data and scrutiny than something that's actually approved.
I can say from experience that you should not trust FDA to have your personal interests in mind here. Equivalent products are treated differently even when dealing with conventional applications, because there is a significant amount of politics behind all FDA decisions. The legal terminology here would be "arbitrary and capricious". However, the judicial branch generally grants FDA extreme deference on all scientific matters, so they're frequently not held accountable for wrong decisions. It's all part of the game pharma companies play.
Last I checked, none of the sponsors had submitted a BLA yet. Even on an accelerated pathway, FDA review typically takes at least 6 months. It's possible these get rushed through in actual record time, but if they handle the process correctly (even if approval is a certainty), it won't happen until 2022.
Also, study completion is 2023 at the earliest, for all vaccine sponsors.