While Seeking Credit for Vaccine, Trump Says He May Invoke Defense Production Act

U.S. President 👤Donald Trump said on Tuesday he would invoke the Defense Production Act if needed to ensure Americans are first in line for domestically produced coronavirus vaccines at a summit designed to give him and his team credit for speedy vaccine development.

Trump made his remarks just before signing an executive order intended to ensure that priority access for COVID-19 vaccines procured by the U.S. government is given to the American people before assisting other nations.

The summit, held at a building on the White House complex, was put together in part to highlight Trump’s role in pressing for quick progress on a vaccine. The Republican lost the 2020 presidential election to Democrat Joe Biden but has refused to concede.

At the beginning of the event, a video was played showing people, including infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, casting doubt on the likelihood that a vaccine would be ready before the end of the year.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is expected to approve a vaccine developed by Pfizer Inc <PFE.N> and Germany’s BioNTech SE <22UAy.F> soon. Despite Trump’s repeated suggestion that the pandemic is rounding the turn, U.S. coronavirus cases have exploded, crossing the 15 million mark on Tuesday.

President-elect Biden has made fighting the pandemic a top priority when he comes into office.

Trump’s executive order appeared to be put together in part to highlight Trump’s “America First” philosophy ahead of Biden’s incoming administration.

But the president’s own advisers have said the government was well placed to vaccinate the U.S. population by mid-2021, raising the question of why such an order was needed.

“I’m staying out of this. I can’t comment,” Dr. Moncef Slaoui, a leader of Trump’s vaccine initiative Operation Warp Speed, told ABC when asked about the order. “We feel that we can deliver the vaccines as needed, so I don’t exactly what … this order is about.”