President Donald Trump delivered remarks on coronavirus vaccine development at the White House in the Rose Garden on Friday, and he is adamant the United States will reopen with or without a vaccine.
“I just want to make something clear. It’s very important, vaccine or no vaccine, we’re back,” Trump said.
He continued, “And we’re starting the process and in many cases, they don’t have vaccines and a virus or a flu comes and you fight through it.”
Watch his his comments below:
Trump: “Vaccine or no vaccine, we’re back.”
— The Washington Post (@washingtonpost) May 15, 2020
Live updates: https://t.co/sG1OSfOCu3pic.twitter.com/SzdK7nu8lh
Trump predicted there will be a vaccine in the “relatively near future.” He said the nation is getting ready to gear up production.
“We’re getting ready so that when we get the good word that we have the vaccine, we have the formula, we have what we need, we’re ready to go as opposed to taking years to gear up,” Trump said.
He added, “It’s risky, it’s expensive, but we will be saving massive amounts of time. We will be saving years if we do this properly.”
Check out his comments below:
Trump says the U.S. is gearing up production on the assumption that there will be a vaccine in the "relatively near future"
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 15, 2020
"It's risky, it's expensive, but we will be saving massive amounts of time. We will be saving years if we do this properly." https://t.co/Nj065CIsxp pic.twitter.com/rkPudvWDyk
The president acknowledged this is a massive undertaking and it is something no American has seen since World War II.
“You really could say that nobody’s seen anything like we’re doing whether it’s ventilators or testing. Nobody’s seen anything like we’re doing now, within our country, since the second world war, incredible,” Trump said.
See more of his comments below:
President Trump says the effort to develop a vaccine is a "massive scientific, industrial and logistical endeavor unlike anything our country has seen since the Manhattan Project," which developed the first nuclear weapons https://t.co/Nj065CIsxp pic.twitter.com/T4nxIeQYGS
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 15, 2020
A reporter asked Trump if the hardest-hit states, including New York and New Jersey, would be receiving the vaccines first.
“I think that makes sense perhaps. You know perhaps it does, but, you know, I would say probably. But I think they’re all going to get well distributed,” Trump said.
Watch his response below:
Trump says it would "make sense" for the hardest hit states, like New York and New Jersey, to have "first dibs" on the coronavirus vaccine and they "probably" will https://t.co/Nj065CIsxp pic.twitter.com/l0Q6MLmqO6
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 15, 2020
As of Friday afternoon, New York has more than 348,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and over 27,000 deaths. In comparison, New Jersey has more than 142,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and nearly 10,000 deaths.