White House chief of staff Mark Meadows refused to walk back claims made by President Trump that there could be a viable coronavirus vaccination by the end of September.
Speaking with the press on Wednesday, Meadows took issue with a reporter who said that “nobody” believes a vaccination could be only weeks away before questioning “why the president” was confident that a late-September vaccination could be viable.
“There are some people who are saying that,” Meadows said. “In September, that’s correct, we’re in September, then potentially by the end of September, so that would be — would hit that.”
Meadows warned that a concrete timetable on a potential vaccination is still very much up in the air but that “some people,” such as Trump, believe a vaccination could be ready by the end of the month or in early October.
“We have a real hope of getting something that actually works and that the efficacy of that actually saves lives. Whether that happens in two weeks, whether that happens in two months, I can tell you there’s one person that sits in that Oval Office that daily is asking me, ‘How much progress have we made, where are we going,’ and probably is one of the most informed when it comes to where we are in the trials,” he said.
During an ABC News town hall event in Philadelphia on Tuesday night, Trump said a vaccination could be only three to four weeks away, a claim that has been called unlikely by top health officials, including infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci and Dr. Moncef Slaoui, the chief adviser for the White House coronavirus vaccine development program.
“We’re very close to having a vaccine,” Trump said. “If you want to know the truth, the previous administration would have taken perhaps years to have a vaccine because of the FDA and all the approvals. And we’re within weeks of getting it. … Could be three weeks, four weeks.”
The efficacy of a potential coronavirus vaccination administered by the Trump administration has been questioned by prominent liberal politicians such as 2020 Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris.
