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EPA
Donald Trump delivered his press conference on Labor Day from the White House
Donald Trump and Joe Biden have been exchanging insults over each other’s position on a Covid-19 vaccine.
President Trump hinted again that a vaccine might be available before the November presidential election, accusing his Democratic rivals of “reckless anti-vaccine rhetoric.”
Biden expressed skepticism that Trump would listen to scientists and implement a transparent process.
The United States has six million cases of coronavirus, the highest in the world.
The virus has also claimed nearly 190,000 lives and caused a major recession, double-digit unemployment and a drop in consumer confidence.
Last week it emerged that the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) had urged states to consider “waiving the requirements” to be able to distribute a vaccine before November 1, two days before the November 3 elections.
No vaccine has yet completed clinical trials, leading some scientists to fear politics rather than health and safety is driving the momentum for a vaccine.
Both Biden and his running mate Kamala Harris have questioned the president’s credibility on the issue. Harris said Sunday that he would not trust Trump’s word that a vaccine was safe, and Biden also questioned whether the general public would trust him as well.
“He’s said so many things that aren’t true that I’m worried that if we have a really good vaccine, people will be reluctant to take it,” Biden said in Pennsylvania on Labor Day Monday.
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Reuters
Joe Biden spoke during the election campaign in Pennsylvania
But he added that: “If I could get a vaccine tomorrow, I would. If it cost me the election, I would. We need a vaccine and we need it now. We have to listen to the scientists.”
Trump, who lags behind in the polls, responded at a White House press conference, calling Biden “stupid” and Ms. Harris “the most liberal person in Congress … not a competent person in my opinion. “.
He said they would “destroy this country and destroy this economy,” adding that “they should immediately apologize for the reckless anti-vaccine rhetoric that they are talking about right now.”
The president, sometimes asking journalists to remove their masks when asking questions, suggested again that a vaccine could be ready next month. “We are going to have a vaccine very soon, maybe even before a very special date.”
Trump wants to have 300 million doses of a coronavirus vaccine in stock by January and has spent hundreds of billions of dollars in hopes of accelerating development of a vaccine that, under normal circumstances, could take years.
Leading US infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci has said it is unlikely, but “not impossible,” that a vaccine could get approval in October, and Stephen Hahn of the Food Administration and Medications, said it might be “appropriate” to approve a vaccine. vaccine before clinical trials are completed if the benefits outweigh the risks.
But scientists, the White House, and executives at five of the major drug companies have made clear that there will be no compromise on the safety and efficacy of a vaccine.
Three vaccine trials in the U.S. are in their final stages, each with 30,000 people who will receive injections, three weeks apart, and then will be monitored for coronavirus infections and side effects for one week to two years. , reports Associated Press.
