Friday, May 15th 2020, 11:37 AM EDT by NBC News
President Donald Trump has suggested multiple times that a coronavirus vaccine could come within months, an accelerated timeline prominent health experts and veteran vaccine developers say is unlikely absent a miracle.
“Vaccine work is looking VERY promising, before end of year,” Trump tweeted on Thursday.
“I think we’re going to have a vaccine by the end of the year,” he told reporters later in the day.
The president is expected to hold a vaccine-focused event Friday in the Rose Garden of the White House after teasing military involvement and other progress Thursday.
But experts said the development, testing, and production of vaccine for the public is still at least 12 to 18 months off, and that anything less would be a medical miracle.
“I think it’s possible you could see a vaccine in people’s arms next year — by the middle or end of next year. But this is unprecedented, so it’s hard to predict,” said Dr. Paul Offit, a professor at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the director of the Vaccine Education Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
President Donald Trump has suggested multiple times that a coronavirus vaccine could come within months, an accelerated timeline prominent health experts and veteran vaccine developers say is unlikely absent a miracle.
“Vaccine work is looking VERY promising, before end of year,” Trump tweeted on Thursday.
“I think we’re going to have a vaccine by the end of the year,” he told reporters later in the day.
The president is expected to hold a vaccine-focused event Friday in the Rose Garden of the White House after teasing military involvement and other progress Thursday.
But experts said the development, testing, and production of vaccine for the public is still at least 12 to 18 months off, and that anything less would be a medical miracle.
“I think it’s possible you could see a vaccine in people’s arms next year — by the middle or end of next year. But this is unprecedented, so it’s hard to predict,” said Dr. Paul Offit, a professor at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and the director of the Vaccine Education Center at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.
