US President Donald Trump said Friday that Operation Warp Speed made it possible for Pfizer to develop its coronavirus vaccine in partnership with BioNTech while addressing the press at the White House. Operation Warp Speed is a joint partnership program between various drug manufacturers, the US Department of Defense, and the US Health and Human Services to help accelerate research, development, production and the manufacture of vaccines to stop the spread of the coronavirus.
‘It has been an incredible effort. As a result of Operation Warp Speed, Pfizer announced on Monday that its China virus vaccine is more than 90% effective, ”said Donald Trump, who was accompanied by the senior advisor to the Defense Department’s Warp Speed Project, Moncef Slaoui, and Vice President Mike Pence. This is the first time the president of the United States has spoken publicly after his defeat in the presidential elections of the United States.
“In July, my administration reached an agreement with Pfizer to provide $ 1.95 billion to support the manufacture and distribution of 100 million doses … Our investment will allow citizens to access the vaccine manufactured by Pfizer for free. Pfizer said they are not part of Operation Warp Speed, but it turned out to be an unfortunate misinterpretation. They are part of it, that’s why we gave them $ 1.95 billion ”, he added.
He said his administration made it possible to develop a treatment “ahead of schedule” and, compared to that, it would take any other administration “four or five years” to do the same. Trump also said his administration is working to secure an emergency use authorization after which the distribution process will be mapped out. He said it is “a matter of a few weeks” until they discover the distribution process.
Frontline workers, the elderly population and high-risk people will be vaccinated at first, the US president said.
Trump also said there will be no lockdown, citing that it results in loss of livelihoods. He said: “This administration will not go into a lockdown. It leads to depression, loss of jobs, loss of livelihood and costs lives. “
He further said: “Hopefully, whatever happens in the future, who knows what administration it will be, I suppose time will tell, but I can tell you that this administration will not be closed.”
Trump also praised his own administration for handling the pandemic, saying it is doing better than most of its ‘peer countries’. He also said that the US continues to test in large numbers and has a low fatality rate.
The United States has recorded more than 11,000,000 cases so far and its death toll is now approaching 250,000. It has registered more than 100,000 cases during the last two days in a row.
Praising his handling of the US economy, Trump said: “We cut unemployment in half and doubled our growth. This is a quick recovery compared to other Western nations. We go down less, we go up more. “
Trump also mocked New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, who previously said his administration will establish a team to review the vaccine and recently lamented that the Trump administration will be in charge of vaccine distribution. Trump said Cuomo is doing the wrong thing from a public health perspective and accused him of politicizing the situation.
He said: “New York doesn’t trust the vaccine. Cuomo hurts to let us know when they’re ready. ”Trump also said they are ready to launch vaccines for New York as soon as they let the government know they are ready.
.
