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President Donald Trump said at the White House on Friday that the administration anticipates having enough coronavirus vaccine for the entire country in April, even though no company has yet announced that it has one that has withstood clinical trials.
Trump’s comment comes after saying earlier this week that a vaccine may be available “in a matter of weeks.”
On Friday, he used a different metric: when would there be enough large-scale vaccine to provide the nation.
“Hundreds of millions of doses will be available every month, and we hope to have enough vaccines for all Americans in April,” the president said at the White House.
“Hundreds of millions of doses will be available every month, and we hope to have enough vaccines for all Americans in April,” President Donald Trump said at a news conference on Friday.
“In a short time we will have a safe and effective vaccine and we will defeat the virus,” he said.
Critics have accused Trump of trying to politicize the virus, with repeated claims that one might be available before the election.
“They all look really good,” Trump said of the top three variants being tested.
Trump said the vaccine would not only save millions of lives, it would “end the restrictions and some of the things that happen and have to continue in the meantime.”
Trump’s adviser Dr. Scott Atlas also touted the progress, saying there will be $ 100 million doses by the end of the year.
On Friday, Trump used the vaccine as a club to attack Democratic rival Joe Biden.
He accused Biden of being “anti-vaccine,” though Biden has said he wants to hear from government scientists and would take one if infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci gives the go-ahead.
“Joe Biden’s anti-vaccine theories are putting many lives at risk,” he said.
And they only do it for political reasons. It is part of their war to try to discredit the vaccine now that they know we essentially have it, we will announce it pretty soon, ” Trump said of the Democrats.
He called it ‘historical progress’ and said ‘there has never been anything like this in our history, there has never been in history, in the history of the world’.
Biden told a CNN town hall on Thursday: ‘I don’t trust the president about vaccines. I trust Dr. Fauci. If Fauci says a vaccine is safe, she would take it. We should listen to the scientists, not the president.
Dr. Scott Atlas, who has been advising Trump, joined him at the event and said there would be $ 100 million doses by the end of the year.
Other members of the coronavirus task force, such as Fauci and the CDC’s Dr. Robert Redfield, were not present.
Trump’s claims came a day after he and his administration argued with Redfield, the director of the CDC, about when a vaccine might become widely available.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows described the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as out of the loop immediately after Redfield said coronavirus vaccines would not be available until mid-2021.
“I am not saying that he is not part of the process, I am saying that he is no closer to making decisions when it comes to clinical trials 3 and the distribution of them,” Meadows told reporters outside the White House on Thursday.
Meadows was echoing the comments made by Trump at Wednesday’s press conference, when the president rejected the two sound bites that emerged from Redfield’s testimony the day before before a Senate committee.
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows told reporters Thursday morning that the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr. Robert Redfield, “ was no closer to the decision-making ” regarding the COVID-19 vaccine distribution schedule.
President Donald Trump contradicted his own CDC boss at Wednesday’s press conference, calling Dr. Robert Redfield ‘confused’ and ‘wrong’ for saying that vaccines would not be widely available until mid-2021 and that vaccines would not be widely available. Masks work better than vaccines.
Dr. Robert Redfield testified Wednesday morning before a Senate committee and said that “a face mask is more likely to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine.” He also said that a COVID-19 vaccine would not be widely available until the second or third quarter of 2021.
Trump said the CDC director was ‘confused’ and ‘made a mistake’ when he told lawmakers that most Americans would not receive a COVID-19 vaccine until the ‘second or third quarter’ of 2021, that is, within a full year.
The president also said Redfield must have “misunderstood” a question about masks.
Redfield raised his mask during testimony and said: ‘I could even go as far as saying that this face mask is more likely to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine.’
“No, the mask is not more important than the vaccine,” Trump told reporters that he called Redfield on Wednesday to clarify.
Meadows also agreed with Trump on that.
“ If masks were really the answer that everyone can get back to work on, and that they really work as the best protocol to keep people safe, I think everyone would be more than happy to wear their masks and go back to work. Meadows told reporters. ‘I don’t think science supports that. I think it’s an added precaution and it’s good, but it doesn’t necessarily ensure that you won’t get COVID. ‘
The president’s remarks at the briefing prompted a Redfield spokesperson to issue a statement saying that the CDC director was “answering a question that he thought was about the time frame in which all Americans would have completed their COVID vaccination “.
“He was not referring to the period of time in which doses of the COVID-19 vaccine will be available to all Americans,” the spokesman said.
Redfield was also quoted talking about a coronavirus vaccine after the briefing.
‘I believe 100 percent on the importance of vaccines and the importance in particular of a COVID-19 vaccine. A COVID-19 vaccine is what will bring Americans back to normal everyday life, ”said Redfield.
“The best defense we currently have against this virus is the significant mitigation efforts of wearing a mask, washing hands, social distancing, and being careful around crowds,” he added.
Meadows suggested that Redfield was not fully informed about the vaccine process because private companies were conducting the trials.
The White House chief of staff also slightly disparaged the agency.
“Generally speaking, speed of development and speed of delivery is not CDC’s strong suit, and we saw that from the early days of the testing regime that aws introduced,” Meadows said.
Meadows then doubled down on the president’s shortened timeline.
“I can tell you that the president is pushing hard to make sure we deliver a vaccine before the end of the year,” he said. “I’m not sure where Dr. Redfield got his particular schedule, but it’s not based on those closest to the process.”
