Published 20:23 IST, May 14th 2020
Donald Trump says US is 'mobilising' the Army to deliver COVID-19 vaccine
Donald Trump has said on May 14 that in a bid to provide the vaccine for COVID-19 disease “very rapidly”, the government has started mobilising the US army.
The US President Donald Trump has said on May 14 that in a bid to provide the vaccine for COVID-19 disease “very rapidly”, the government has started mobilising the American Army. While the US has topped the world with most coronavirus infections, Trump said in a televised interview that it is a “massive job” to provide the vaccine for the highly contagious disease and briefed that it would first be made available to older US citizens and then to the younger ones. Trump said. "Our military is now being mobilised so, at the end of the year, we're going to be able to give it to a lot of people very, very rapidly."
Despite the warnings of US health professionals against citing unproven researches on coronavirus in conferences, the US President boasted that the COVID-19 vaccine would be available in the country by the end of 2020. The White House has even set a benchmark of the number of vaccines doses to 300 million before the year ends. However, as the number of active cases in the US mount to 1,034,892 and has recorded 85,197 fatalities, no such cure is yet derived for the fatal disease. Meanwhile, Trump has been touting the reopening of the country to balance the harm on the economy.
'We're opening our country'
Moreover, US President not only accused country’s top infectious disease expert of wanting to “play all sides of the equation” but also called his warnings on reopening the US too soon as “not acceptable”. Trump has even said “I was surprised” by the answer when the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Dr Anthony Fauci cautioned against reopening the country too soon and alerted that it could result in a heightened number of coronavirus cases. According to Fauci, schools should be reopened cautiously and in some places, they shall still remain closed. However, this advice left the US President particularly dissatisfied and said at the televised conference on May 13 that “people want it open”.
Trump said, "I was surprised by his answer, actually. It's just...to me it's not an acceptable answer, especially when it comes to schools."
“We're opening our country. People want it open. The schools are going to be open,” he added.
Updated 20:23 IST, May 14th 2020