President Donald Trump has accused Democrats of denigrating a potential COVID-19 vaccine as he claimed it could be available for distribution before the presidential election on November 3.
Trump gave an interview to Fox News’ Mark Levin on his show Life, Liberty & Levin on Sunday. He revisited a number of his favorite topics but also took aim at Democrats for raising questions about the rush for a coronavirus vaccine.
Levin, an outspoken supporter of the president, asked why there seemed to be so much “hostility” from the Democratic Party and the media about rolling out a vaccine before the election.
“They want to denigrate it,” Trump said. “This started about three weeks ago because they started hearing rumors saying we’re going to have this vaccine in super record time.
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“So instead of saying, ‘Wow, that’s great, he’s going to save a lot of lives, and people are going to be protected, and this whole thing will end faster’ — it’s going to end anyway — but it’s going to end faster. They started to denigrate it.
“And the reason they’re doing that is because they think I’ll get credit if we have a vaccine anywhere near the election, but certainly before the election, but essentially we’re there now anyway, and we’re ready to distribute very rapidly.
“So what they’re doing is trying to make it like, ‘Oh, that’s not such a big deal,’ when actually it’s one of the greatest things that anyone’s done. And I’m not saying me, I’m saying anyone. I think it’s so incredible, it’s so important. And they’ve done it in record time,” Trump said.
Experts have said a vaccine may not be available until 2021 but there is uncertainty about how quickly it can be developed and distributed. Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has said a vaccine by the end of this year is possible.
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Trump said vaccine development was at the end of the process, however. He criticized Democrats who’ve raised questions about the administration rushing the rollout.
“And so all of a sudden instead of saying, ‘Wow, this is great news, we’re going to have the vaccine early,’ they’re saying, ‘Oh, the vaccine’s coming out too soon, it’s going to be unsafe, it’s going to be all of these things,'” Trump added.
Former Vice President Joe Biden warned on September 16 that a vaccine shouldn’t be rushed because of political considerations, a point echoed by many Democrats.
“Scientific breakthroughs don’t care about calendars any more than the virus does. They certainly don’t adhere to election cycles,” Biden said. “And their timing, their approval and their distribution should never, ever be distorted by political considerations.”
“They should be determined by science and safety alone,” he said. “One thing is certain, we can’t allow politics to interfere with the vaccine in any way.”
