Defense Secretary Mark Esper said he is “completely confident” that a coronavirus vaccine will be available by the end of the year.
Esper told NBC’s "TODAY" on Friday that it is "absolutely" possible that a vaccine will be ready by the end of 2020.
"Absolutely it's possible, and I've spoken to our medical experts about this," Esper told Savannah Guthrie. "We are completely confident that we can get this done.”
Esper was reiterating statements he made during a White House press conference where he said the Department of Defense "will deliver" a vaccine by the end of the year.
"Look, the Defense Department has been on top of the coronavirus since the early days. We were in this fight from late January on, when we were first bringing Americans back from China,” he said. “We’ve been ahead of the curve and in the fight from day one, and this is the next phase of this battle, and we will deliver on time the vaccines.”
Esper said researchers have been working on a vaccine for months.
"I'm confident we'll get it,'' he said. "DOD has the expertise and the capability of course to get the manufacturing done and the logistics, and I'm confident that we will deliver.”
The Pentagon later clarified that Esper was only announcing a goal, not a promise, The Hill reports.
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