On Monday’s edition of CNN’s “The Situation Room,” chief White House correspondent Jim Acosta reported that in a meeting with pharmaceutical executives at the White House, President Donald Trump repeatedly asked if they could rush out a vaccine for coronavirus within the next few months, and had to be told again and again that that wasn’t possible.
“During the meeting, several of the experts and the pharmaceutical industry CEOs had to explain to the president time and again that they cannot necessarily rush a vaccine on to the market,” said Acosta. “The president was sort of asking as he was going around the room, well, how quickly can we get a vaccine out on the market, and do it in three or four months.”
“At one point, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who is the infectious disease expert for the administration, at one point told the president, no, it is still going to be about a year, and the experts and the pharmaceutical CEOs were explaining to the president that there needs to be a vigorous testing process for the vaccines before you can put a vaccine out on the market,” said Acosta. “Obviously, you can’t put one out on the market for coronavirus if it has not been adequately tested, and they had to explain it for the president time and again.”
“You have a sense … there is an urgency on his part to address the issues,” added Acosta. “This is just not an instant gratification type of problem that we are dealing with, that this administration is dealing with right now.”
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