US Presidential Debate: Donald Trump says 'will announce COVID-19 vaccine soon'

US President Donald Trump reiterated his claim of COVID-19 vaccine being “ready” during the final presidential debate with Democratic challenger Joe Biden at Boston University in Nashville on October 23. As expected, moderator Kristen Welker opened the debate with questions about COVID-19 response.  While Trump repeated that he is "immune" to the virus and that the outbreak is "going away" and that he has learned a lot about the disease, Biden insisted that there is "no other serious" scientist that thinks the same way. The US President even claimed that the American military will distribute the vaccine among citizens.

Donald Trump said, “We have a vaccine that’s coming. It’s ready. It’s going to be announced within weeks. And it’s going to be delivered. We have Operation Warp Speed, which is the military is going to distribute the vaccine.”

Talking about his hospitalisation at Walter Reed Medical Center, Trump said, “And I will tell you that I had something that they gave me, a therapeutic, I guess they would call it. Some people could say it was a cure, but I was in for a short period of time. And I got better very fast or I wouldn’t be here tonight. And now they say I’m immune.”

Read - Trump, Biden Have Back-and-forth Over Racism

Read - US Presidential Debate 2020: Fact-checking 5 Claims Made By Trump, Biden During Face-off

Joe Biden attacked Trump on COVID-19 response

While Trump touted his own response to the unprecedented outbreak of novel coronavirus, Joe Biden took the focus on the number of people who died of COVID-19 in the United States. The former US VP, who was in government during the Ebola outbreak, said that anyone who is responsible for the death of over 220,000 Americans, “should not remain as president” of the US. Biden talked about the severity of the pandemic and how Trump’s response was full of negligence as he did not take the required measures initially and has “no plan”.

Joe Biden said, “Anyone is responsible for that many deaths should not remain as president of the United States of America. We’re in a situation where there are a thousand deaths a day now. A thousand deaths a day. And there are over 70,000 new cases per day.”

“ If we just wore these masks, the president’s own advisors have told him, we can save a 100,000 lives. And we’re in a circumstance where the president thus far and still has no plan, no comprehensive plan,” he added.

Read - Trump Gives Thumbs Up After Debate

Read - US Presidential Debate 2020: Mute Button Declared Winner As Trump, Biden 'behave Better'