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WASHINGTON (Reuters) – US President Donald Trump predicted on Wednesday that at least 100 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine could be distributed by the end of 2020, contradicting a senior government health official who Trump called confusing.
Hours earlier, Robert Redfield, director of the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, said that a COVID-19 vaccine could be widely deployed by the middle of next year or a little later.
“No, I think he made a mistake when he said that,” Trump said, telling reporters that he called Redfield. “That is incorrect information.” I think he was confused. I think he probably misunderstood the question. “
Redfield, head of the federal government’s disease control agency, made his comments in testimony before a US Senate panel.
He said general availability of a vaccine could arrive “by the end of the second quarter, third quarter of 2021.”
A vaccine could be ready as early as November or December, Redfield said, adding that limited first doses could go to the most vulnerable. But “to get enough of us immunized to have immunity, I think it’s going to take six to nine months,” he added.
(Report by Alexandra Alper and Steve Holland; written by Doina Chiacu; edited by Sandra Maler and David Gregorio)
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