Even if China is the country to find a successful vaccine for COVID-19 first, President Donald Trump made it clear his administration is “willing to work with anybody.”
As the president returned to holding coronavirus press briefings on Tuesday, Trump was asked about “a study by a Chinese company” that “showed some promising results for its coronavirus vaccine candidate,” as a reporter mentioned.
“If China were first in developing the vaccine, or even if it weren’t, would the administration be willing to work with China to bring a successful Chinese vaccine to the U.S.?” the reporter asked.
Trump responded, “Yeah, we’re willing to work with anybody that’s going to get us a good result.”
“We’re very close to the vaccine. I think we’re going to have some very good results,” he continued.
The president later added, “I think you’re going to see something over the next fairly short period of time, maybe [a] very short period of time, having to do with therapeutics and vaccines that are very good.”
See Trump’s comments (starting at (25:15):
Though he is willing to work with China if there is a successful vaccine, Trump continued to refer to the coronavirus as the “China virus” during Tuesday’s briefing.
“The China virus is a vicious and dangerous illness, but we’ve learned a great deal about it and who it targets,” he said in his opening remarks.
He then added that things may “get worse before it gets better.”
“Some areas of our country are doing very well; others are doing less well. It will probably, unfortunately, get worse before it gets better — something I don’t like saying about things, but that’s the way it is. It’s the way — it’s what we have. If you look over the world, it’s all over the world, and it tends to do that.”
Additionally, asked about his previous remarks in May about putting “out the fires” whether it is “an ember or a flame,” regarding the COVID-19 outbreak, Trump said, “We have embers and fires, and we have big fires.” He then declared that there are “very, very skilled” state leaders “and I think they’re going to handle it very well.”
During Tuesday’s briefing, Trump also shifted his tone on wearing masks, as he encouraged Americans to wear the masks if they cannot socially distance, as IJR reported.
“We’re asking everybody that when you are not able to socially distance, wear a mask, get a mask. Whether you like the mask or not, they have an impact, they’ll have an effect and we need everything we can get,” Trump said.
