(AP)Gliding over significant challenges still to come, President Donald Trump on Friday offered a rosy update on the race for a vaccine for the resurgent coronavirus as he delivered his first public remarks since his alleged defeat by President-elect Joe Biden. He still did not concede the election.
Trump spoke from the Rose Garden as the nation sets records for confirmed cases of COVID-19, and as hospitalizations near critical levels and fatalities climb to the highest levels since the spring. He said a vaccine would ship in “a matter of weeks” to vulnerable populations, though the Food and Drug Administration has not yet been asked to grant the necessary emergency approvals.
As states impose new restrictions in the face of rising caseloads, Trump asked all Americans to remain “vigilant.” But he ruled out a nationwide “lockdown” and appeared to acknowledge that the decision won’t be his much longer.
“This administration will not be going to a lockdown,” he said. “Hopefully whatever happens in the future, who knows, which administration it will be I guess time will tell, but I can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown.”
Biden, for his part, has not endorsed a nationwide shutdown, but he appealed for Trump to take “urgent action” to curtail the spread of the virus. “The crisis does not respect dates on the calendar, it is accelerating right now,” he said in a statement Friday.
Trump said vaccines would “arrive within a few weeks,” saying they were ready and merely awaiting approval — and would be given “to high-risk individuals right away.” In fact, there’s no guarantee that Pfizer’s shot, the front-runner, will get rapid authorization for emergency use. Even if it does, there’s no information yet indicating if the vaccine works in older adults or just younger, healthier adults. Nor does Pfizer have a large commercial stockpile already poised to ship; initial batches of shots would be small and targeted to certain still-to-be-determined populations.
The president also criticized Pfizer representatives for trying to distance their company from his administration’s program.
“Pfizer said it wasn’t part of Warp Speed but that turned out to be an unfortunate misrepresentation … that’s why we gave them $1.5 billion,” Trump said, referring to the contract announced in July with the company.
The president said the elderly and high-risk Americans would receive the vaccine first.
“By vaccinating the elderly and the high risk we will effectively end this phase of the pandemic and allow seniors to reclaim the golden years of their lives,” he said.
Trump also took a shot at New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) who continues to publicly raise concerns about the vaccine.
“Gov. Cuomo will have to let us know when he’s ready for it,” he said. “We can’t be delivering it to a state that won’t be giving it to it’s people immediately.”
Cuomo said in September that he would wait to distribute the vaccine until he had independently confirmed its safety.
“I hope he doesn’t handle this as badly as he’s handled the nursing homes,” Trump said. “We’re ready to provide it as soon as they let us know that they’ll actually use it.” He said that the vaccine would be widely available to the general public as soon as April.
Trump took no questions Friday from reporters. He hasn’t answered questions since before Election Day.
White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany, meanwhile, said Trump is “not even at that point yet” when it comes to conceding to Biden. Trump has leveled baseless allegations of widespread voter fraud, even as his own administration has said there is no evidence to support the claims. His aides suggest he is merely trying to keep his base of supporters on his side in defeat.
Trump spoke with conservative media on Friday, including Fox News’ Geraldo Rivera, suggesting he would acknowledge the loss only after exhausting his legal options.
“You know, he told me he was a realist,” Rivera said. “He told me he would do the right thing.”
