White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Thursday said that the Trump administration is preparing to rapidly distribute 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine if there are positive results next month from clinical trials.
Meadows told reporters on the White House driveway that the “first tranche” of “100 million doses is one third of the population — that’s pretty wide distribution when you look at that, and that’s October.”
Meadows said that by January there would be a second tranche bringing the total to 300 million doses, or almost the whole US population. “Our goal has been to have 300 million doses by January,” he said.
The chief of staff spoke after President Trump denounced Wednesday testimony to Congress from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Robert Redfield, who said a vaccine would not reach the general public until summer 2021.
Redfield “may be referring to a timeline that he published. I’m not aware of that,” Meadows said.
“But I can tell you that timeline is not consistent with what I have had personal interaction with.”
Meadows added that “that’s the reason why we’re spending billions of dollars.”
Trump said at a White House press briefing Wednesday night that Redfield “made a mistake” describing the timeline.
White House Chief of Staff Mark MeadowsAP“We’ll be able to distribute at least 100 million vaccine doses by the end of 2020 and a large number much sooner than that,” Trump said. “Under no circumstance will it be as late as the doctor said.”
At the briefing, Trump called upon his coronavirus adviser Dr. Scott Atlas to confirm that Redfield was incorrect. Atlas said plans would see production of 700 million vaccine doses by the end of March.
“There will be 700 million doses by end of Q1,” Atlas said.
Atlas said that “all the refrigerators that are necessary, everything is going to be a place for this,” meaning distribution delays won’t push public vaccination til summer.
Trump said at the press briefing that a vaccine would be available “to the general public immediately. When we go, we go. We’re not looking to say, ‘Gee in six months we’re going to start giving it to the general public.’ No, we want to go immediately.”
On Wednesday the Defense Department and Department of Health and Human Services released plans for vaccine distribution amid hopes for positive results in October from clinical trials.
The Trump administration has preemptively purchased vaccine candidates from drugmakers in case one proves effective against the virus that’s sickened 6.6 million Americans and killed 197,000.
The Trump administration plan calls for rapid distribution of a vaccine free of cost and anticipates two doses administered 21 to 28 days apart. Health care workers and vulnerable people would be prioritized in the first wave.
