President Trump fielded questions from worried Americans during a televised town hall about the coronavirus pandemic on Sunday — and predicted that a vaccine would be ready by the end of 2020. “We think we are going to have a vaccine by the end of this year,” Trump said during the two-hour Q&A aired on Fox News. Experts had previously estimated that a vaccine would take up to 18 months, if not longer — but White House coronavirus task force expert Dr. Anthony Fauci said last month he thought it was within the “realm of possibility” that millions of vaccines could be ready by January. Speaking from the Lincoln Memorial, Trump said he didn’t care if another country had an immunization ready first, adding: “I really just want to get a vaccine that works.” News of the vaccine timeline came as Trump increased his projection for the total number of US fatalities from the virus to 80,000 or 100,000 — up more than 20,000 from what he’d suggested just a few weeks ago. “That’s a horrible thing,” Trump said. “We shouldn’t lose one person over this.” As of Sunday, more than 66,000 Americans had been felled by the disease, according to a tally of reported deaths from Johns Hopkins University. Trump said he’d like to see “therapeutics” to combat COVID-19. The Food and Drug Administration recently authorized the emergency use of anti-viral drug Remdesivir, and Trump also continued to tout the anti-malarial hydroxychloroquine. Facing questions from people put out of work as a result of the outbreak, Trump stressed the importance of revving up the virus-stricken economy. “We have to get it back open safely but as quickly as possible.” Roughly 30.3 million people have filed for unemployment aid in the six weeks since nonessential businesses were ordered closed to stem the spread of the outbreak. Source
