Donald Trump on Friday said his administration hopes to deploy a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year, appearing to push back his calls for one in just a few months as he declared the United States officially “back”.
The president also again signalled he believes the worst of the pandemic – which has left at least 86,000 Americans dead – is behind the United States, saying “vaccine or no vaccine, we’re back”, even as some states have stay-at-home orders in place.
In a striking remark, he appeared to say a vaccine is not necessary, even as Americans continue to die: "In many cases, they don't have vaccines and a virus or a flu comes and you fight through it."
Mr Trump broke with his own public health officials by declaring this: ”I think schools should be back in the fall.”
On the vaccine work, public health experts, including Anthony Facui, the federal government’s top infectious disease expert, says it likely will take up to 18 months. At another point in the press conference, Mr Trump said he hopes to get a vaccine “in the relatively near future”. And at yet another point, he said a vaccine might be ready “early next year”.
And Mr Fauci told a Senate panel this week he has some concerns about opening schools without a vaccine, saying federal officials cannot give students much confidence about the virus. He said moving too quickly to open the country could spawn “little outbreaks” that officials “might not be able to control”.
On the schools, Mr Trump’s declaration puts him at odds even with some GOP legislators, like Senate Health Committee Chairman Lamar Alexander. During the same hearing, Mr Alexander said he would prefer much more testing to be available before opening schools in the fall.
Alex Azar, the Health and Human Services secretary, told reporters his agency was trying to get a fully approved vaccine available to “all” Americans by January.
Rick Bright, a former HHS official who claims he was unfairly removed from his position due to raising concerns about Mr Trump’s Covid-19 policies, told a House committee this week 18 months assumes too many things go just right.
“A lot of optimism is swirling around a 12- to 18-month timeframe, if everything goes perfectly. We’ve never seen everything go perfectly. I still think 12-18 months is an aggressive schedule, and I think it’s going to take longer than that to do so,” Mr Bright said.
Asked to clarify the “back” statement, Mr Trump said “at some point it will go away” even though he acknowledged there could be some “flare ups.”
But the president, who has moved closer and closer to his conservative base on the virus outbreak, suggested a vaccine might not be necessary.
He spoke in the White House Rose Garden over the blaring horns of semi-trucks he said were outside the White House grounds to protest against governors keeping states closed. “That is the sound of love,” he said.
