Trump: Americans will develop ‘herd mentality’, coronavirus vaccine weeks away
- Trump denies playing down virus, floats ‘herd mentality’ strategy instead of ‘herd immunity’
- US president said a US vaccine could be three or four weeks away, before the election on November 3
US President Donald Trump said that a coronavirus vaccine may be available within a month – an acceleration of even his own optimistic predictions – but added that the pandemic could go away by itself.
“We’re very close to having a vaccine,” he told a town hall question and answer session with voters in Pennsylvania aired on ABC News on Tuesday.
“We’re within weeks of getting it you know – could be three weeks, four weeks,” he said.
Only hours earlier, speaking to Fox News, Trump had said a vaccine could come in “four weeks, it could be eight weeks”.
Democrats have expressed concern that Trump is putting political pressure on government health regulators and scientists to approve a rushed vaccine in time to help turn around his uphill bid for re-election against challenger Joe Biden on November 3.
Experts including top US government infectious diseases doctor Anthony Fauci say vaccine approval is more likely toward the end of the year.