As the coronavirus or COVID-19 outbreak continues to infect more people worldwide, the race for getting an effective vaccine has become intense and political around the world. Ahead of the November Elections, there were fears that the Donald Trump administration will press for a vaccine to make sure that the current president gets a good shot at getting reelected.
Now, in an interview with Fox and Friends on Tuesday, the US president has given an aggressive prediction about the timeline for a coronavirus vaccine, claiming that the 'holy grail' of COVID-19 could be ready in 'four weeks', as reported by Forbes.
COVID-19 Vaccine and Politics
The US president stated that he believes the North American nation is going to have a vaccine in 'a matter of weeks' and he also laid out a more specific timeline. He predicted that the vaccine could come in as little as 'four to eight weeks', as per reports.
Trump also mentioned that if Joe Biden was the president then the country would have not got a vaccine for years because of all the red tape. Concerns about Trump trying to play politics with the vaccine increased after CDC notified the states to get ready for distributing a vaccine by November 1, two days before the election.
The administration of Trump has continuously tried to downplay the concerns. However, nine major drug companies signed a pledge to 'stand with science' and not politics when it comes to a vaccine. Scientists including Dr. Anthony Fauci, have stated that it is not likely that a vaccine is going to be ready before the 2020 US elections. Even Bill Gates in an interview with Bloomberg raised his concerns about whether it will be logical to trust the Trump administration for the vaccine.
On the other hand, to be first on the race for the vaccine, Russia had registered its first one to fight against the virus called Sputnik V. Experts around the world also raised concerns when the nation registered it vaccine as President Vladimir Putin claimed it to be safe and efficient for use. Most of thwe scientists and researchers expressed their worries about the safety of the vaccine as it did not undergo the proper testing process.
It will be interesting to see to what extent the Trump administration goes to launch a vaccine and giver the current president a good shot at getting reelected. However, many experts around the world believe that an effective vaccine will be ready by the first quarter of 2021.
