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US PRESIDENT DONALD Trump has said he hoped a Covid-19 vaccine would be available by the end of the year, and announced he was appointing a former pharmaceutical executive to spearhead the effort.
“We are looking to get it by the end of the year if we can, maybe before,” Trump said, as he delivered an update on the race for a vaccine.
“We think we are going to have some very good results coming out very quickly,” he told reporters in the Rose Garden of the White House.
The timeline projected by Trump is more optimistic than what Europe foresees.
The European Medicines Agency said on Thursday a vaccine could be ready in a year’s time under an “optimistic scenario”.
Trump announced he would appoint Moncef Slaoui, the former head of GSK Vaccines, and four star army general Gustave Perna, to lead “Operation Warp Speed”.
“My administration is providing roughly $10 billion to support a medical research effort without parallel,” the president said, comparing the effort with the Manhattan Project during World War 2 that led to the development of nuclear weapons.
Trump added that when a vaccine was ready the military would be enlisted to distribute it — and evoked a spirit of global cooperation.
“We are working together with many different countries, and again we have no ego,” he said.
“Whoever gets it, we think it is great, we are going to work with them and they’re going to work with us. If we get it, we’ll be working with them.”
Doubts
Scientists have cautioned that it is possible that despite worldwide efforts, it is possible that an effective vaccine may never be found – or that some vaccines could backfire and make people more, not less, susceptible to infection.
Trump also sought to temper expectations.
“Again, it is not solely vaccine based,” he said.
“Other things have never had a vaccine and they go away. So I don’t want people to think this is all dependent on a vaccine, but a vaccine would be a tremendous thing.”
Scientists have never previously developed a successful vaccine for any kind of coronavirus that infects humans.
Efforts that were underway against the SARS coronavirus were halted early because that disease was contained after infecting about 8,000 people, and it was therefore not judged profitable to pursue.
Vaccines do exist for animal coronaviruses, for example a type of coronavirus that infects chickens – and this is used by farmers.
However, it also kills a certain percentage of chickens, and such an outcome would not be acceptable in humans.
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The news story from Alabama was actually a very positive one and voted on democratically by the people there. Pity that it’s being shown as a negative in this review
@Sinéad Talbot: okay okay we get you’re drift
@Sinéad Talbot: Its a fkin desperate piece of news. Skummy Trumps America. Full of self righteous fake Christian zealots.
@Noel Doherty: # “your”
@Sinéad Talbot: except it wasn’t. They voted to make it so the state wasn’t funding abortion, there was absolutely nothing about criminalisation. In fact they were told it wouldn’t be criminalised. But keep ignoring the truth all you want.
Yes it’s very positive to take a woman’s right to choice away from her!!I’m being sarcastic.
@Declan Heagney: when you say you’re being sarcastic is that sarcasm? It just seems a little too superfluous.
The news story from Alabama was actually a very positive one and voted on democratically by the people there. Pity that it’s being shown as a negative in this review
@Sinéad Talbot: it was NEVER voted on by the citizens of Bama and that’s total fake news as the Funky Gibbon in the White House would want you to believe Please educate yourself and don’t be so gullible
@Sinéad Talbot: We heard you already.
Anyone know why the comments on the shay lawless articles are closed. Given that Simon Coveny has now promised to assist retrieving his body with tax payer money this seems like a subject we should be able to discuss.
@Ivan Connolly: in previous articles posted on the Journal in recent days there have been a lot of very negative comments aimed at the climber and especially regarding the collections of money for someone who knew the risks involved. Many were saying that people who undertake these journeys are selfish – not thinking of anyone apart from themselves etc. and others were saying how disgraceful some of the comments were. I presume the journal weighed up the situation and thought that in this instance the needs of family and respect for the (presumably) deceased would supersede a person’s right to comment.
The news story from Alabama was actually a very positive one and voted on democratically by the people there. Pity that it’s being shown as a negative in this review
@Sinéad Talbot: will you fk off trolling please?
@Ian Breathnach: just because you disagree with Sinead’s comment you think that gives you a pass to begin a tirade of abuse? So it can snow in May after all!!
Please delete the two repeat comments of mine! It told me it didn’t post the first two times, obviously a tech error
@Sinéad Talbot: your mistake, Sinéad, you need to live with it.
@Helen Clifford: once created, posts should never be aborted…
@Sinéad Talbot: you fascist bot ….
Great news from Alabama.
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