President Donald Trump is offering a different projection for the coronavirus vaccine timeline.
During Trump’s virtual town hall on Fox News, he discussed the drugs currently undergoing clinical studies. The president was asked if he was putting his “real chips on the vaccine being fast.”
To that question, he responded with a vaccine timeline of his own. Trump claimed there would likely be a vaccine by the end of the year although he admitted that doctors would likely advise against him making such statements.
“I think we’re going to have a vaccine by the end of the year. Now, the doctors would say, ‘Well, you shouldn’t say that,’ I’ll say what I think,” Trump said.
“I’ve met with the heads of the big companies. These are great companies. Yeah, I think we’re gonna have a vaccine much sooner rather than later,” the president added. “I think that will be done.”
He continued, “I’d rather have therapeutic — meaning something to make people better. If not a cure, at least a therapeutic. And you know, [that’s] what we started with Gilead, I really think so.”
See Trump’s remarks below (starting at 19:00):
Despite Dr. Anthony Fauci’s positive remarks about the results of the placebo-controlled, randomized trial for Gilead Science’s drug, Remdesivir, Trump again championed hydroxychloroquine as well.
Although multiple studies have suggested hydroxychloroquine is not a proven treatment for the coronavirus, Trump blamed the media for “false reports” on the drug.
“But we’re going to have other things and it could be that hydroxy is going to be… we don’t lose anything with hydroxy. It’s been out there for so many years. Then they start doing the false reports. Its been used for numerous things for many years. People aren’t dying from it. They don’t want to see a good result.”
Trump’s latest comments follow a string of reports about hydroxychloroquine and the possibility of a viable vaccine being created.
Although Trump has backed hydroxychloroquine, preliminary study results suggest the drug is not a suitable fit for the severely ill coronavirus patients. It also has the potential to cause severe heart problems.
Fauci also recently offered his projection on the vaccine timeline, as previously reported on IJR.
The global health expert projects that a vaccine could be available by January or February of next year if everything goes according to plan with Remdesivir.
“I was saying in January and February that it would be a year to 18 months, so January is a year,” Fauci said. “So it isn’t that much from what I had originally said.”
