Fox News' Geraldo Rivera suggests naming COVID-19 vaccine after Trump

Americans at some point in the future will have to make sure to get their yearly "Trump," if Geraldo Rivera has his way.

Amid promising news on COVID-19 vaccine candidates, including one from Pfizer that could potentially start being distributed next month if all goes well, Rivera on Friday's Fox & Friends had a humble suggestion: the vaccines should be named after President Trump.

"With the world so divided, and everybody telling [Trump] he's gotta give up, and time to leave, and time to transition and all the rest of it, why not name the vaccine the Trump?" Rivera said. "Make it like, 'Have you gotten your Trump yet?' It would be a nice gesture to him."

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Rivera evidently wasn't just talking about naming one particular coronavirus vaccine after Trump, but making the word Trump a "generic name" for the idea of a vaccine against the coronavirus, something that probably wouldn't go over as well in a "divided" world like Rivera seemed to suggest. Clearly, though Trump would be thrilled, having evidently been fuming over the idea of not being able to take credit for vaccine distribution.

After announcing positive vaccine data earlier this month, though, Pfizer tried to distance itself from Trump's Operation Warp Speed. While the company in July reached a $1.95 billion agreement with the federal government for doses of its vaccine, the company's head of vaccine research and development was quick to say that, at least when it comes to this research and development, "We have never taken any money from the U.S. government, or from anyone." Brendan Morrow