'Big, old, slow turtle' FDA should 'stop playing games and start saving lives': Trump

WASHINGTON: An angry Donald Trump on Friday lambasted the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), terming it a "big, old, slow turtle" and telling it to "stop playing games and start saving lives".

As Western and Chinese companies compete with each other in a race over the coronavirus vaccine, Trump said he wanted "to stop the world from killing itself".

The outgoing Republican president who was toppled by Democrat Joe Biden took to Twitter to express his concern for the world as it is today.

Trump took shots in a series of rapid-fire tweets Friday evening not only at Biden but the US FDA and former US president Barack Obama as well. He directed the institution's commissioner, Dr Stephen M. Hahn, to "get the dam vaccines out NOW" and "stop playing games and start saving lives".

"The Swine Flu (H1N1), and the attempt for a vaccine by the Obama Administration, with Joe Biden in charge, was a complete and total disaster," he said.

"Now they want to come in and take over one of the 'greatest and fastest medical miracles in modern day history.' I don’t think so," the real estate tycoon-turned politician said.