Without any evidence, Trump says coronavirus will go away without a vaccine
Speaking to the press on Friday, President Trump said the coronavirus will go away without a vaccine. He said he listens to what doctors say, but did not provide any evidence from doctors to support that claim.
Video Transcript
- Mr. President, you said recently that you would, if necessary, be the first person to get a vaccine. How important do you think a vaccine ultimately is?
DONALD TRUMP: Well, I didn't say I wanted to. That's not a correct statement. You said, would you be, and I said, if it was good for the country, I'd be, and it was bad for the country, I'll wait to be the last one or I wouldn't do it at all.
No, I was asked whether or not I would do it as the first person. If I thought that was a good thing for the country, I would. And I have to say, I think we're doing very well on vaccines. If they wanted to use me as a test, that's OK with me, if it was good. But that was really the way the question was asked.
- But how important do you believe a vaccine is to getting out of this? And what do you say to those that [INAUDIBLE] this growing anti-vaccine--
DONALD TRUMP: Well, I feel about vaccines like I feel about tests. This is going to go away without a vaccine. It's going to go away and it's-- we're not going to see it again hopefully after a period of time. You may have some flare ups, and I guess I would expect that some time in the fall.
You'll have flare ups maybe-- maybe not, but according to what a lot of people say, you probably will. We'll be able to put them out. You may have some flare ups next year, but eventually, it's going to be gone. It's going to be gone.
There are some viruses and flus that came and they went for a vaccine. They never found the vaccine, and they've disappeared. They've never shown up again. They die too, like everything else. They die too.
And so whether we do or not, I think great progress is being made by Johnson and Johnson, by Oxford, and some others. NYU I see is very advanced. But if you don't get it, this is going to go away at some point.
- Mr. President, what evidence have you seen that this is going to go away without a vaccine?
DONALD TRUMP: I just rely on what doctors say. They say it's going to go. That doesn't mean this year-- doesn't mean it's going to be gone, frankly, by the fall or after the fall. But eventually, it's going to go away. The question is, will we need a vaccine?
At some point it, will probably go away by itself. If we had a vaccine, that would be very helpful-- be very happy to have a vaccine.
