‘Will Be Able to Create Vaccine by the End of the Year’: Trump

This prediction by Trump moves changes the timeline one had assumed for the COVID-19 vaccine significantly.

File image of US President Donald Trump.

(Photo: AP)

US President Donald Trump said on Sunday, 3 May, that the US should be able to create a vaccine for coronavirus by the end of the year. He said this in a Fox News ‘town hall’ show that was broadcast from the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.

“We are very confident that we’re going to have a vaccine by the end of the year,” said Trump. He also added that he wanted schools and universities to re-open in September.

This prediction by Trump changes the timeline one had assumed for the vaccine significantly, as several countries are vying to create the vaccine first. Scientists had earlier said that the it would take another 12-18 months for the COVID-19 vaccine to be ready.

However, if another country’s researchers would beat the US in creating the vaccine, he would be more than happy, Trump said. “If it's another country I'll take my hat off. I don't care, I just want to get a vaccine that works,” said Trump.

There is however a risk to the volunteers, to which Trump said, “they know what they’re getting into.”

He also added that his prediction might be a bit ahead of his own advisors, and that doctors would actually not advise him to say that. But he said he would “say what I think.”

Some time back, the US President’s remark that injecting disinfectants can cure one of coronavirus drew a lot of flak from health experts. On 24 April, Trump had stunned viewers by saying doctors might treat people infected with the coronavirus by shining ultraviolet light inside their bodies, or with injections of household disinfectant.

His comments had drawn immediate criticism from health experts, while a leading disinfectant producer urged people not to listen to such dangerous speculation. Brix, a leading doctor specialising in HIV/AIDS immunology, said the dialogue should focus on asymptomatic cases and not on the President's remarks.

The United States now has 68,276 deaths due to the deadly virus and 1.18 million cases. A John Hopkins report states that in the last 24 hours the deaths in the US have gone up by 1,450.