On August 6, Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera did a radio interview with President Donald Trump. The President then suggested that a vaccine for the coronavirus could be ready on November 3, which is days before Election Day.
COVID-19 vaccine
Rivera asked President Trump when the vaccine would be ready, he then said that it would be ready "much sooner" than the end of the year.
River did a followed up question and asked him if it would be "sooner than November 3?" in which the President said "I think in some cases, yes possible before, but right around that time.
Trump also told reporters on that day that he was optimistic that the COVID-19 vaccine would be ready around November 3 and he noted that while it would not hurt his chances for reelection, he was doing it to save lives.
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According to CNN, it is possible that a vaccine could be approved by the Food and Drug Administration or the FDA at some point in November, but there is no firm timeline nor is there a guarantee that one will be ready by then. Even when a vaccine is approved, it will most likely be months before it would be ready for usage in the United States.
A vaccine that is developed by the biotechnology company Moderna and the NIAID or the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases is now in the final phase of its clinical trial.
The initial results from phase 1 of the vaccine showed promising results, it also showed immune responses and for more than half of the patients, it had normal side effects like headaches and fatigue.
In his interviews in July, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is the Director of NIAID, made it clear that while a vaccine could be approved by November or even before November, it would still not be available until months into 2021.
Dr. Fauci told The Washington Post that several months into 2021, that is when the vaccine would be available to everyone in the United States.
Update on vaccine
According to Moderna, if the COVID-19 vaccine is approved by the FDA the company could produce at least 500 million and up to a billion doses in 2021.
Dr. Francis Collins, the Director of the National Institutes of Health, said that tens of millions of vaccine doses could be available at the outset of the vaccine is approved later in 2020. This is because the United States is already producing unapproved vaccines in order to be prepared if they are approved.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told CNBC last month that they are making the commercial-scale vaccine now, as they are going through the clinical trials. They are using the full power of the US government and their financial resources to do it.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is considering who should get initial vaccines, such as at-risk populations and frontline workers. The CDC has also asked for outside input from the National Academy of Medicine.
The administration is now working on securing glassware, syringe supplies and syringes to administer vaccine doses across the country as well as an ad campaign in order to build demand and trust.
The truth is nothing is certain, and President Trump's optimism about the vaccine could be crushed. Some experts also warned against throwing out dates and timelines because it gives out false hope.
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