President Trump has ramped up his claims that a COVID-19 vaccine will soon be available in the U.S., tweeting Monday that "the Vaccines (Plus) are coming, and fast!" It's not clear what "Vaccines (Plus)" means, but on Sunday former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb poured some cold water on the administration's vaccine hype, telling CBS's Face the Nation on Sunday the chances we'll have a widespread vaccine by the end of 2020 are "extremely low." Any vaccine this year would be rolled out in a "targeted" way to high-risk groups, rather than made available to everyone at the same time, Gottlieb said.
He added that the virus' spread could soon slow in the U.S. due to the sheer number of people already infected. "The reality is that if we continue to see spread at the rate that we're seeing it now or something higher than what we're seeing now, by the end of the year upwards of 20 percent of the population in the U.S. could have been exposed to the coronavirus and we're likely to see the virus itself start to slow down" in early 2021 as part of the "natural progression" of the pandemic. He went on: "I think the tragic consequence of that is there's going to be a lot of death and disease along the way, but I think by the end of this year, we're likely to be through at least the most acute phase of this epidemic in part because it's gonna end up infecting a lot more people between now and then."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
The potential impact of Trump tariffs for the UKUK goods exports to the US could be hit with tariffs of up to 20% seriously affecting the British economy
-
Shoot to Kill: Terror on the Tube – a 'raw' and 'riveting' docuseriesThe Week Recommends Channel 4's 'gripping' two-part show explores the Metropolitan police killing of an innocent man in the aftermath of 7/7
-
'Salute to those who served'Today's Newspapers A roundup of the headlines from the US front pages
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstancesSpeed Read
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2Speed Read
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governorSpeed Read
-
Los Angeles city workers stage 1-day walkout over labor conditionsSpeed Read
-
Mega Millions jackpot climbs to an estimated $1.55 billionSpeed Read
-
Bangladesh dealing with worst dengue fever outbreak on recordSpeed Read
-
Glacial outburst flooding in Juneau destroys homesSpeed Read
-
Scotland seeking 'monster hunters' to search for fabled Loch Ness creatureSpeed Read
