When President Donald Trump said the coronavirus will "disappear," he was clear that it will go away faster with a vaccine than with herd immunity, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said Wednesday.
"The term herd immunity is a medical term," McEnany said on Fox News' "America's Newsroom." "When you have a certain percentage with a population, you have herd immunity via vaccine or prior illness that you develop the antibodies. What the president said clearly there is a vaccine gets you there quickest."
Under Trump's actions, "we are on pace to get a vaccine in record time for a novel pathogen," said McEnany. "He is achieving it at a faster rate than other presidents. He is tearing down barriers to make sure we have a safe, effective vaccine in record time."
During his ABC town hall Tuesday night Trump told host George Stephanopoulos that the virus is "going to disappear" even without the vaccine.
"I still say it will disappear and now go away a lot faster because of the vaccine," he said. "It would go away without the vaccine," but "with time. You'll develop a herd mentality. It will be herd developed and that will happen. That will all happen."
Trump also took a question about wearing masks from the audience of undecided voters, saying that there are people who say wearing masks is not good
"He was making the point that Dr. [Anthony] Fauci made in March," McEnany said. "A mask doesn't provide perfect protection ... the president has said numerous times that wearing a mask is patriotic. He has done it himself when he can't socially distance."
Meanwhile, Trump wants an agreement reached on the next coronavirus relief bill, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is "disgraceful," said McEnany. "Without Nancy Pelosi, we can't have a deal with Congress. Right now she doesn't care about the American people. She cares about getting the perks in California at her hair salon."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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