United States President Donald Trump claimed that the country has already procured two million vaccine doses for the coronavirus disease that are “ready to go” if they “check out for safety,” according to media reports.
During a news conference from theWhite House, Trump said on Friday: “We had a meeting on vaccines yesterday. We are doing incredibly well. We can have some very positive surprises. Tremendous progress is being made on vaccines.”
“In fact, we are ready to go in terms of transportation and logistics. We have over two million ready to go if it checks out for safety,” he added.
According to The New York Times, the Trump administration has shortlisted five companies that could most likely develop a vaccine for the coronavirus disease.
“And the nice part is that four companies, you could even say seven or eight companies, that are doing some very similar and some very different on the vaccine front. And, some similar and somewhat different on the therapeutic front,” he said.
He didn’t mention which amongst them had started vaccine production.
The National Institutes of Health has accelerated its work in collaboration with biotech firm Moderna on a potential vaccine to prevent Covid-19.
Earlier this week, White House health advisor Dr Anthony Fauci said there were at least four trials of potential vaccines that he is either directly or indirectly involved in.
Fauci said by the beginning of 2021 “we hope to have” a couple of million doses.
Researchers have fast-tracked the development of vaccine candidates by investing in multiple stages of research.
Trump maintained on Friday that officials “understand the disease now.”
However, according to a Hindustan Times report, scientists have said they still cannot construe the kernel of the virus, including how immune systems respond once someone is exposed to it.
The number of confirmed cases of Covid-19 in the US is over 1.87 million, and around 108,120 people have been killed so far, according to Johns Hopkins University.
A letter from the Editor
Dear Readers,
The coronavirus crisis has changed the world completely in the last few months. All of us have been locked into our homes, economic activity has come to a near standstill. Everyone has been impacted.
Including your favourite business and financial newspaper. Our printing and distribution chains have been severely disrupted across the country, leaving readers without access to newspapers. Newspaper delivery agents have also been unable to service their customers because of multiple restrictions.
In these difficult times, we, at BusinessLine have been working continuously every day so that you are informed about all the developments – whether on the pandemic, on policy responses, or the impact on the world of business and finance. Our team has been working round the clock to keep track of developments so that you – the reader – gets accurate information and actionable insights so that you can protect your jobs, businesses, finances and investments.
We are trying our best to ensure the newspaper reaches your hands every day. We have also ensured that even if your paper is not delivered, you can access BusinessLine in the e-paper format – just as it appears in print. Our website and apps too, are updated every minute, so that you can access the information you want anywhere, anytime.
But all this comes at a heavy cost. As you are aware, the lockdowns have wiped out almost all our entire revenue stream. Sustaining our quality journalism has become extremely challenging. That we have managed so far is thanks to your support. I thank all our subscribers – print and digital – for your support.
I appeal to all or readers to help us navigate these challenging times and help sustain one of the truly independent and credible voices in the world of Indian journalism. Doing so is easy. You can help us enormously simply by subscribing to our digital or e-paper editions. We offer several affordable subscription plans for our website, which includes Portfolio, our investment advisory section that offers rich investment advice from our highly qualified, in-house Research Bureau, the only such team in the Indian newspaper industry.
A little help from you can make a huge difference to the cause of quality journalism!
Support Quality Journalism