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“I was confused” – Trump rebukes the head of the health authority
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Trump admits he downplayed the coronavirus
Donald Trump already knew the dangers of the coronavirus in February. But the president of the United States simply played down the risk. Just two months before the presidential elections, this admission caused outrage.
US President Trump believes his country could unveil a corona vaccine in just a few weeks. The US health agency CDC disagrees. Challenger Biden also joins the argument.
ORUS President Donald Trump has confirmed that he expects a corona vaccine in the United States in the coming weeks. The United States is about to complete a serum, Trump said at a press conference at the White House on Wednesday. Vaccinations could begin “sometime in October” or soon after. With his statements, Trump contradicted the statements of the head of the US health authority CDC, Robert Redfield.
Redfield had recently said at a congressional hearing that the first coronavirus vaccines could begin by the end of the year, but only limited to small population groups such as healthcare workers. Vaccinations for the general population are not expected to begin until the second half of next year. Until then, wearing a protective mask, washing your hands and keeping your distance remained “the best defense against this virus,” Redfield later wrote on Twitter.
Trump said at the White House press conference on Redfield’s remarks: “I think he was confused.” The agency chief made “a mistake” when he spoke of a general introduction of the vaccine in the middle of next year. “That’s just wrong information.”
CDC: Nationwide Vaccination Not Until Fall 2021
The president had already told ABC News Tuesday that he expected a vaccine in three to four weeks. Redfield then told Congress that November and December could potentially begin “very limited” use of the vaccine in individual groups such as medical personnel. However, the wide vaccination of the population will not take place until the second or third quarter of 2021.
Trump is highly criticized for the strong spread of the corona virus in the country. In the polls for the November 3 presidential election, he is behind his challenger Joe Biden. Therefore, opposition Democrats have already voiced their fear that Trump is putting massive pressure on researchers and health authorities to approve a vaccine as soon as possible.
Biden denies Trump suitability for the highest state office due to his handling of the Corona crisis. “The president’s first job is to protect the American people, and he won’t. That totally disqualifies him, ”Biden said Wednesday after meeting with health experts in Wilmington, Delaware.
The Democratic presidential candidate accused Trump of instrumentalizing the search for a corona vaccine for political purposes. He does not believe their claims that a vaccine should be available in a few weeks. The approval process must be based on scientific and safety standards, not politics, the former vice president demanded.
With 6.63 million registered infections and nearly 200,000 deaths, the United States is the country in the world most affected by the corona pandemic. Trump is accused of having long underestimated the danger posed by the new pathogen and of repeatedly misleading citizens with statements about supposedly promising treatment methods. In interviews now published with famous investigative journalist Bob Woodward, he admitted that he had deliberately downplayed the danger posed by the pandemic.
