Hailing an “unprecedented medical mobilization,” the White House announced Friday a coronavirus vaccine will be administered to 20 million people in December, beginning with frontline workers and “the most vulnerable.”
There will be enough doses for every person in the United States by April, President Trump said at a press conference in the Rose Garden.
His administration has applied for emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration that he hopes will be approved “very quickly.”
“No medical breakthrough of this scope and magnitude has ever been achieved this rapidly, this quickly, and we’re very proud of it,” Trump said, referring to his administration’s “Operation Warp Speed” public-private effort.
The president noted Pfizer’s announcement Monday of a vaccine that is more than 90% effective.
“This far exceeds any and all expectations,” Trump said, “nobody thought they would get to that level, and we have others coming that we think will be at equal level.”
.@POTUS: “Our investment will make it possible for the vaccine to be provided by Pfizer free of charge. Pfizer said it wasn’t part of Warp Speed but that turned out to be an unfortunate misrepresentation…”
WATCH: https://t.co/fhB1Y5sb9X pic.twitter.com/TZvJGJVhYa
— CSPAN (@cspan) November 13, 2020
In July, he said, his administration reached an agreement with Pfizer to provide $1.95 billion to support the mass manufacturing and distribution of 100 million doses, with the option to purchase a total of 600 million doses.
Trump noted Pfizer said its vaccine wasn’t part of Operation Warp Speed, “but that turned out to be an unfortunate representation.”
“They are a part,” he said, “that’s why we gave them the 1.95 billion.”
🚨Good News Alert🚨: The U.S. will be able to provide vaccines to 20 MILLION Americans in December because of the unprecedented public/ private partnership under Operation Warp Speed & military support for deployment logistics
— Alyssa Farah (@Alyssafarah) November 13, 2020
Trump did not reply to reporters’ shouted questions about whether or not he will concede the presidential election amid lawsuits contesting ballots in several swing states.
But he made clear what the White House policy will be until Jan. 20.
“Whatever happens in the future, who knows which administration it will be — I guess time will tell, but I can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown,” Trump said.
The president also had a word for Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who has criticized Trump’s vaccine plan.
“He’s had some very bad editorials recently about this,” Trump said.
The president said his administration won’t deliver the vaccine to New York “until we have authorization to do so.”
