Published 11:06 IST, September 16th 2020
Trump says COVID-19 vaccine may be available 'within a month' at Pennsylvania convention
In a question-answer session in the presence of voting spectators in Pennsylvania, Trump said that his administration was “very close” to having a vaccine.
- World News
- 2 min read
On September 14, US President Donald Trump denied “downplaying” coronavirus, saying, that he “up played” the COVID-19 threat. Trump told the 90-minute town hall by ABC that the coronavirus vaccine, in fact, will be “available in three to four weeks.” In a question-answer session in the presence of voting spectators in Pennsylvania, Trump said that his administration was “very close” to having a vaccine, perhaps “within weeks” of getting it. Further, he added, that the coronavirus pandemic could go away by itself. Hours before making an unsubstantiated claim to his moderator George Stephanopoulos at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, the US President told a reporter from Fox News that the vaccine could be available within 4 to 8 weeks.
Trump faced questions from some of the voters still not committed to his presidency despite only 60 days left in the 2020 US Presidential elections. In 2016 ballots, Trump’s Republican party managed slim 44,292 votes of the total 6,000,000 cast which was the narrowest margin with a 0.72 percentage gap in Pennsylvania in more than 176 years. The competitive keystone state has for years leaned towards the democrats, giving a sweeping win to former President Barack Obama in 2012 with leading 5.4 percentage points. The town hall, which aired almost 2 weeks prior to Trump’s first debate with Democratic nominee Joe Biden, mainly focused on President Trump’s response to the malignant COVID-19 pandemic that has claimed millions of lives in the United States.
Will disappear after 'herd mentality'
Denying that he misinformed the American citizens, President Trump said in the live-streamed interview that he, actually, in many ways, played the pandemic in terms of action. Trump’s response was in reference to journalist Bob Woodward's allegations that the US President was diligently aware of how deadly and contagious than the flu the novel coronavirus was. However, Trump defended himself, saying, that he did not want to cause “a widescale panic”. He further stated that the coronavirus, will, in fact, eventually disappear—without even a vaccine—citing a "herd mentality”, apparently meaning to imply the term “herd immunity” that weakens the pathogen after a high percentage of the population is infected.
Updated 11:06 IST, September 16th 2020