On Friday, President Trump said his administration expects to have enough coronavirus vaccines by next spring.
“Hundreds of millions of doses will be available every month, and we expect to have enough vaccines for every American by April,” Trump said during a White House news conference, touting what he said was a “historic” effort amid the pandemic.
“We are, I would say, I think I can say, years ahead of schedule — what it would be if it were an administration other than this one, would have been years before you ever had anything approved by the FDA,” Trump said. “We essentially have it — we will be announcing it soon.”
Coronavirus vaccines under development have yet to receive emergency authorization or approval by the Food and Drug Administration.
Trump said he hoped to beat predictions made today by the country’s most senior infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, and earlier this week, by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield, that a vaccine for the entire country, or as many people as necessary, would be available next summer.
“That’s on the outer edge,” said Trump, when asked about the timeline stretching into the second or third quarter next year cited by other administration officials. “We think we can beat that number very substantially.”
“As of the end of the year, we will have over 100 million doses manufactured,” said Dr. Scott Atlas, the Stanford radiologist-turned-Trump adviser in the White House. “The people who are on a prioritized list, including high risk, including first responders, will have the ability to take the vaccine — no one is being mandated to be vaccinated — at the latest in January.”
“And as we said yesterday, and I think yesterday, there will be hundreds of millions of doses delivered for people to take it during the first quarter, and so, that by April, every single American who wants to be vaccinated will have the ability to be vaccinated,” he said. “It’s not a forced vaccination, of course.”
Trump, on Wednesday, said his administration would have 100 million vaccine doses ready by the end of the year. “As soon as the FDA approves the vaccine, and as you know, we’re very close to that, we’ll be able to distribute 100 million doses by the end of 2020 and a large number much sooner than that,” he said at the time.
