Trump Claims COVID-19 Vaccine Could Be Available By Years End

As the number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. surpassed 1.1 million over the weekend, President Donald Trump revealed that a vaccine for coronavirus could be available as soon as the end of the year.

I think were going to have a vaccine much sooner rather than later, he said during a virtual Fox News town hall on Sunday evening.

Trump conceded, however, that medical experts would likely discourage him from making such claims.

The doctors would say, Well, you shouldnt say that. Ill say what I think, Trump said .

\"The doctors would say well you shouldn't say that. I'll say what I think.\" - Pres. Trump after he says he believes we will have a vaccine by the end of the year. pic.twitter.com/9iciqClBiW

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"The doctors would say well you shouldn't say that. I'll say what I think." - Pres. Trump after he says he believes we will have a vaccine by the end of the year. pic.twitter.com/9iciqClBiW
Haleigh Hoffman (@HaleighHoffman) May 3, 2020

Medical professionals including Dr. Anthony Fauci, the countrys leading expert on infectious diseases have said that it could take at least a year to 18 months for a vaccine to be developed. Even that timeline would be considered breakneck speed.

Last week, Fauci told the Today show that he thought it was in the realm of possibility that a vaccine could be ready by January 2021. Faucis remarks followed news that the Trump administration had launched a project to spur the vaccine development process, dubbed Operation Warp Speed. The initiatives goal is to have 300 million doses of a vaccine available by January, Bloomberg reported .

The Trump administration isnt the only player keen to have a vaccine ready. Governments the world over have made vaccine development a priority, and pharmaceutical companies and research labs are racing against the clock in an effort to fulfill this need.

A COVID-19 vaccine will need to be developed before the world can return to some semblance of pre-pandemic normalcy, medical experts say. Concerns, however, have been raised about whether efficacy and safety will be compromised in the desperate rush.

A vaccine has never gone like its gone now, Trump claimed during Sundays town hall. Were so far ahead of any vaccine, ever, in history. These things would take two, four, five, six years, 10 years.

The mumps vaccine is considered the fastest vaccine ever to be approved. That vaccine took four years to develop .

Still, Trump insisted that a COVID-19 vaccine would be ready in record time.

I think were going to have a vaccine, Im telling you, by the end of the year ... I think were going to have a vaccine, he said.

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