Washington [US], September 17 (ANI): US President Donald Trump on Wednesday (local time) said that the COVID-19 vaccine could be distributed across the United States starting October and close to a hundred million doses could be distributed by the end of 2020.
“We are on track to deliver and distribute the vaccine in a very safe and effective manner. We think we can start sometime in October. So as soon as it is announced, we would be able to start mid-October on — maybe a little bit later but, we will be all set. So as soon as it is given the go-ahead, we will get it out,” Trump told reporters here.
Trump further went on to slam his Democratic counterpart in the upcoming elections and said that he ‘should stop” promoting “anti-vaccine” theories.
“I call upon Biden to stop promoting his anti-vaccine theories because all they are doing is hurting the importance of what we are doing and I know that if they were in this position, they would be happy to be saying how wonderful it is,” Trump said.
The US President further said that the Democrats were “recklessly” endangering lives and “talking negatively” because they “have it (the vaccine)”.
“They are recklessly endangering lives–you cannot do that. This is really a case that they are only talking negative and that’s because they know we have it or we will soon have it,” Trump said.
As per the latest updates by Johns Hopkins University, the US — the worst affected country from the COVID-19 pandemic — has a total of 6,616,458 cases and 196,436 deaths due to the pathogen.
Mask not more effective than vaccine, says Trump
Despite Robert Redfield, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, saying that wearing a mask would be more effective than a vaccine against the coronavirus, President Donald Trump said that the mask is “not more effective” than the vaccine “by any means”.
“I might even go so far as to say that this face mask is more guaranteed to protect me against COVID than when I take a COVID vaccine because the immunogenicity maybe 70 per cent. And if I don’t get an immune response, the vaccine is not going to protect me. This face mask will,” Redfield said at a public testimony according to CNN.
Trump said, “It is not more effective — by any means — than a vaccine. I called him about that. If you would ask him, he would say that he did not understand the question. Masks have problems too — they need to be handled carefully,” Trump told reporters here.
He added, “The vaccine is much more effective than a mask. The mask is not as important as the vaccine. The mask perhaps helps. A lot of people did not like the concept of (wearing a) mask.”
Trump further said that Redfield told him that he (CDC director) answered the question incorrectly while he was at a public testimony. He further said that he hoped that the vaccine “is a lot more” beneficial than the mask.
“As far as the mask is concerned, he made a mistake,” Trump said and added, “The vaccine is going to have tremendous power. It’s going to be extremely strong, successful. We are not going to have a problem. The mask may help, but the mask is a mixed bag.”
(ANI)
