COVID-19 vaccine coming in weeks: Trump

Team Udayavani, Oct 23, 2020, 9:51 AM IST

Washington: A COVID-19 vaccine is ‘ready’ and coming ‘within weeks’ and would be distributed by the military, US President Donald Trump said on Thursday while his Democratic challenger Joe Biden alleged that America is about to enter into a ‘dark winter’ as they clashed over their policies on the pandemic during the final presidential debate.

The 90-minute debate, just less than two weeks ahead of the crucial presidential election on November 3, started in Nashville, Tennessee, with opening remarks by both the candidates, when the mike of the other was muted to avoid interruptions.

The coronavirus dominated the opening minutes of the Trump-Biden face-off with President Trump terming the contagion a ‘worldwide problem’.

“We have a vaccine that’s coming. It’s ready, it’s going to be announced within weeks and it’s going to be delivered,” Trump, 74, said adding that companies like Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and Pfizer are doing very well on that front.

“We also have others that we’re working on very closely with other countries, in particular, Europe,” he said.

Asserting that his timeline is going to be more accurate, Trump said he has his generals lined up for the fast distribution of the vaccine, as he expects to have 100 million vials.

“As soon as we have the vaccine, he (general) is ready to go,” said the president, who is seeking re-election.