Published 09:08 IST, August 7th 2020
Trump optimistic about possibility of COVID-19 vaccine before US Presidential elections
In contrast to US Prez Donald Trump's optimism, his top health adviser Dr Anthony Fauci said that a vaccine available for public use before 2021 is unrealistic
United States President Donald Trump on Thursday expressed optimism on the possibility of having a drug for the deadly COVID-19 ready by November 2020. Speaking with Cleveland radio station, Trump said, “Sooner than the end of the year, could be much sooner.”
He was asked when will a vaccine for COVID-19 be ready and if it will be available sooner than November 3, the date of the US Presidential election. To this, Trump replied, "I think in some cases, yes possible before, but right around that time."
'China shouldn't have let virus come out of the country'
During an interview with Geraldo Rivera which roughly lasted about 40-minute, Trump blamed China for the spread of COVID-19 across the entire world. He pointed out how China stopped the virus from spreading in other parts of the country but did not stop it from spreading across Europe which then made its way to the US.
“We shouldn’t have lost one person. This should have been stopped by China,” Trump said.
“They stopped it from going into China and they didn’t stop it from going into Europe and the rest of the world. It’s one of those things that’s just terrible. They should have never let it come out of China. They stopped it going into China but they didn’t stop it from going out into the world,” he continued.
However, Trump's optimism of the possibility of a vaccine being ready by the time comes even as his own White House health experts sound sceptical about the vaccine being ready so soon.
Trump has, at several occasions, made optimistic statements over the COVID-19 in stark contrast to his top health adviser Dr Anthony Fauci. During a press briefing on August 5, while Trump said that the coronavirus outbreak is going to ‘go away’, US top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci had denied the possibility of COVID-19 to disappear.
While Fauci believed the surge in COVID-19 cases in the US is a result of partial closure of the economy while contending that Europe has seen a sharp decline because it shut its economy by 95 percent. Trump, in response to Fauci's comments, said the reason for the high number of COVID-19 cases in the US was because the country has done the maximum COVID-19 tests as compared to any other country.
The US Presidential elections are scheduled for November 3, in less than three months. The alarming spread of COVID-19 in the US and the response of Trump administration to it has led to widespread criticisms in the country making the reelection bid of Trump a bit more difficult. The US still continues to see a rise in death toll on an average over 1000 deaths a day, with the Coronavirus cases reaching over 4.8 million, accounting to more than 20 percent of the COVID-19 cases globally and deaths mounting over 160,000.
(Photo credit: AP)
Updated 09:08 IST, August 7th 2020