Trump clashes with own team, says CDC head made ‘mistake’ on COVID-19 vaccine timeline
Guidance about when Americans should expect to receive a coronavirus vaccine is being tossed like a rag doll between federal health experts and politicians, losing the public’s trust more and more with each theatrical display of misinformation.
In the latest bout of uncertainty, President Donald Trump told reporters Wednesday at a press briefing that one of his top health officials was “confused” when he publicly announced a COVID-19 vaccine timeline that Trump does not agree with.
At a hearing before a Senate subcommittee on Capitol Hill, Director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Robert Redfield said a vaccine likely won’t be ready until next summer or early fall.
“I think there will be a vaccine that will initially be available some time between November and December, but very limited supply, and it will have to be prioritized,” Redfield told lawmakers, CBS News reported. “If you’re asking me when is it going to be generally available to the American public so we can begin to take advantage of a vaccine to get back to our regular life, I think we’re probably looking at late second quarter, third quarter 2021.”
When asked if he felt comfortable with the vaccine timeline touted by Redfield, Trump said, “I think he made a mistake when he said that. It’s just incorrect information. I called him and he didn’t tell me that, and I think he got the message maybe confused, maybe it was stated incorrectly.”
“We’re ready to go immediately as the vaccine is announced and it could be announced in October, it could be announced a little bit after October. But once we go, we’re ready,” Trump said.
During the same briefing, Dr. Scott Atlas, who Trump recruited in August to advise him on the pandemic, said “high priority” individuals would receive a vaccine “no later than January” and that 700 million doses would be ready for the rest of the country by the end of March 2021.
Shortly after, a CDC spokesperson released a statement that appears to confirm Trump’s claims that Redfield was mistaken.
“In today’s hearing, Dr. Redfield was answering a question he thought was in regard to the time period in which all Americans would have completed their Covid vaccination, and his estimate was by the second or third quarter of 2021,” the statement reads, according to CNN. “He was not referring to the time period when Covid-19 vaccine doses would be made available to all Americans.”
Later Wednesday, Redfield took to Twitter with a few lasting thoughts.
“I 100% believe in the importance of vaccines and the importance in particular of a #COVID19 vaccine. A COVID-19 vaccine is the thing that will get Americans back to normal everyday life,” Redfield tweeted. “The best defense we currently have against this virus are the important mitigation efforts of wearing a mask, washing your hands, social distancing and being careful about crowds. #COVID19.”
Meanwhile, Dr. Anthony Fauci, an epidemiologist on the White House Coronavirus Task Force, says Americans should know of a “safe and effective” vaccine by November or December, media outlets report, but when shots will be administered is unknown.
Trump also disagreed with and faulted Redfield on his comments about face masks, which the CDC head says might be more effective than a vaccine because not everyone is guaranteed an immune response from the shot.
“It’s not more effective by any means than a vaccine and I called him about that, those were the two things I discussed with him,” Trump said in response, according to The Hill. “I believe if you asked him he would probably say that he didn’t understand the question.”
It’s not the Trump administration’s first rodeo with going against the guidance from its own team that specializes in infectious diseases.
In August, the CDC changed its guidelines on coronavirus testing, stating that asymptomatic individuals no longer need a test, McClatchy News reported.
An anonymous federal health official revealed that the CDC was pressured by top leaders in the Trump administration to make the changes, CNN and The New York Times reported. “One official said the directive came from the top down. Another said the guidelines were not written by the C.D.C. but were imposed,” the Times wrote.
This story was originally published September 17, 2020 at 9:18 AM with the headline "Trump clashes with own team, says CDC head made ‘mistake’ on COVID-19 vaccine timeline."
