President Donald Trump said Tuesday a vaccine for coronavirus could be approved "in a matter of weeks," but insisted that he's not pushing for quick approval for political reasons.
"I want the vaccine fast," Trump said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends" about the "Operation Warp Speed" initiative to find the vaccine. "If this were like I call it the 'Obiden' administration, you would not have a vaccine for years, I've sped up the process with the FDA."
He said FDA Administrator Dr. Stephen Hahn and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar have both been "great" and because of the efforts that have been taken, "we'll have a vaccine in a matter of weeks, it could be four weeks, it could be eight weeks."
He added that the vaccine "could be" out even before the November election, "if we have something."
"We'll start delivering it immediately upon getting it, but we're very close to getting the vaccine, and that's something I look forward to," said Trump. "I think it will be so good for the world, not just for us."
There will also be more therapeutic medications to fight COVID-19, said Trump.
"We'll see what happens, but if this was another administration, you would have been talking about two years, if you're lucky, before you got to this point," he said.
Democrats have voiced doubts on the safety of a quick vaccine, with both Democrat nominee Joe Biden and his running mate, Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, expressing concerns about political pressure leading to a vaccine being approved too early.
Trump also talked about the difficulty he had in Nevada over the weekend in holding a rally, calling Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak a "political hack" who made things tougher.
"He wouldn't allow sites and he followed us," said Trump. "This guy was doing everything and his people were doing everything possible ... we had four outdoor sites maybe even five outdoor sites, and he wouldn't allow it to happen."
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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