Coronavirus vaccine: Donald Trump gives his timescale
During Donald Trump’s daily briefing on Friday he said that the coronavirus vaccines could be ready this year but experts have other views.
The United States is starting to reopen the economy even though it remains the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. And during Friday’s daily briefing President Donald Trump talked about the vaccine that scientists have been working on since the virus emerged from China towards the end of 2019.
Trump said that the vaccine could be ready in the next few months but actual health experts have consistently stated in the past that the cure won’t be ready until 2021 and it would take a miracle for the vaccine to be ready this year.
“We’re looking to get the vaccine by the end of the year if we can, maybe before. Vaccine is looking VERY promising, before the end of the year” Trump tweeted on Thursday as well.
Trump’s statement does not go hand-in-hand with what health experts have said in the past because for the vaccine to be ready there has to be a lot of testing and a lot of FDA approval before it can be used on the wider public.
"I think it’s possible you could see a vaccine in people’s arms next year, by the middle or end of next year. But this is unprecedented, so it’s hard to predict,” said Dr. Paul Offit, a professor at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
The coronavirus was first reported in China in late 2019 and spread rapidly across the world. Scientists have been working on a vaccine since the beginning of 2020 and the first United States clinical trial began in March.