Desperate to have a public success he could tout in the fight against the coronavirus, President Trump demanded that the director of the National Institutes of Health issue an emergency authorization for the use of convalescent plasma despite a lack of evidence that the treatment was effective, the New York Times reports.

“Get it done by Friday!” Trump ordered in a phone call to Dr. Francis S. Collins on August 18th, the second night of the Democratic National Convention.

The following Sunday, one day before the Republican National Convention started, the FDA authorized the treatment for wider use, with Trump saying, without any supporting evidence, that it would reduce fatalities by 35%.

Dr. Collins was told to report to the White House Sunday, August 23rd, where he waited in the Roosevelt Room with Dr. Peter Marks as Trump gave the media false information about the treatment.  Trump did not speak with them before his announcement, but HHS Secretary Alex Azar thanked Dr. Marks in his remarks that night.

The episode is one in a series of attempts by the Trump Administration to push therapies as a cure or treatment for coronavirus without appropriate scientific data.  Trump has said drugs such as hydroxychloroquine and a derivative of the poisonous oleander flower would help patients, despite evidence to the contrary.

Trump’s claims–first about the dangers of the virus and then about treatments–have raised doubts about the political influence on scientific statements.  According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 62% of voters are worried that political pressure will influence the distribution of a vaccine.

Adding to public distrust, Trump has baselessly claimed that the delays in distribution of treatments and the development of a vaccine are being delayed to make him look bad and to undermine his reelection chances.

“We will not jeopardize the public’s trust in our science-based, independent review of these or any vaccines,” Dr. Stephen M. Hahn said on Twitter on Friday.  “There’s too much at stake.”