White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows is weighing in on Senior White House advisor Jared Kushner’s claim there will be 100 million doses of a vaccine by the end of this year.
Appearing on CNBC Tuesday, Meadows was questioned about what the White House is doing to fast track a vaccine.
“Operation Warp Speed is taking an unprecedented action to make sure that vaccine is delivered to hundreds of millions of people before the end of the year,” Meadows said.
He added, “What we’re doing is actually spending money to produce vaccines, hundreds of millions of doses of vaccine, while they’re going through the clinical trials.”
Check out his comments below:
White House advisor Jared Kushner said there would be 100 million doses of a vaccine in the U.S. before the end of the year. White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows confirms this, and discusses the Trump administration's plans for vaccines going forward. https://t.co/eeohrxIq37 pic.twitter.com/E487IJtbSH
— CNBC (@CNBC) September 1, 2020
Meadows noted there are several potential vaccines going through phase three clinical trials.
He revealed why he believes Kushner was correct in his prediction.
“The reason why Jared Kushner was so right in that description is because we’re doing that on multiple efforts to make sure that we’re not waiting for the approval of a clinical three trial to start the manufacturing,” Meadows said.
He continued, “We’re actually starting the manufacturing in parallel to make sure we can deliver it as quick as we can to the American people. It’s unprecedented in terms of what we’re seeing, but these are unprecedented times.”
On the final night of the Republican National Convention, President Donald Trump committed to the development of a vaccine “before the end of the year,” as IJR previously reported.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned against rushing a vaccine before it is considered safe and effective.
White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator Dr. Deborah Birx said she is “hopeful” for a vaccine but urged Americans to continue to wear masks, practice social distancing, and avoid crowds, as IJR previously reported.
