US President Donald Trump said on Sunday that his administration is confident the United States will have a vaccine for the novel coronavirus by the end of the year.
“We think we are going to have a vaccine by the end of this year,” Trump said during a virtual Fox News town hall, as quoted by The Hill.
Trump’s remarks followed news that his administration was pushing agencies to speed up the vaccine development process with a new project called “Operation Warp Speed.” The project’s reported goal is to speed up vaccine development by several months and have 300 million doses of a vaccine available by January.
Trump acknowledged that his projection was viewed as ambitious, noting that medical experts would advise him against making such a statement.
“The doctors would say, well you shouldn’t say that. I’ll say what I think,” Trump said later, noting that he had met with executives of companies working on vaccine development.
“I think we’re going to have a vaccine much sooner than later,” he added.
Trump also said he wasn’t worried about ethics of having people tested with a vaccine as part of an expedited trial process.
“No, because they’re volunteers. They know what they’re getting into. They’re in many cases very good people. They want to help the process. Look, a vaccine has never gone like it’s gone now,” he said.
“We’re so far ahead of any vaccine ever in history. These things would take two, four, five, six years. Then years,” the President continued.
Trump also touted the promise of remdesivir as a treatment for the coronavirus. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Friday announced the drug would receive an emergency use authorization for treatment in hospitalized patients, after it showed promising results during a clinical trial.