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Trump's Remarks on Vaccine Development; May 15, 2020
REMARKS
Remarks by President Trump on Vaccine Development
HEALTHCARE
Issued on: May 15, 2020
Rose Garden
12:40 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you very much. It’s very hot today. Please, sit down. This is going to be a very hot one, and we apologize to everybody out there that’s going to suffer through it. But you know what? It’s better than bad weather.
And it’s great to be in the Rose Garden. I want to especially thank this group for joining us as we announce a historic groundbreaking initiative in our ongoing effort to rapidly develop and manufacture a coronavirus vaccine.
We’re joined by Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Secretary Mark Esper, Secretary Alex Azar, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, FDA Director Dr. Stephen Hahn, Director of the National Institute of Health Dr. Francis Collins, Dr. Fauci, Dr. Birx. We’re joined by a very terrific group of professionals.
Tomorrow will mark 30 days since we released the White House guidelines for a safe and phased opening of America. That’s what we’re doing. It’s the opening of America. We’re going to have an amazing year next year. We’re going to have a great transition into the fourth quarter.
{snip}
For example, today Secretary Perdue, together with Ivanka Trump, launched the Farmers and [to] Families Food Box Program, which will provide $3 billion to help small farmers. And it’ll be helping farmers, ranchers, but it’ll be bringing food to some of the food lines and some of the food kitchens that you’ve been seeing on television. And I said, “Why aren’t we doing that? We have all of this tremendous food produced by our farmers and our ranchers.” And so we’re going to be buying $3 billion worth of that food. Great for everybody: our farmers, our ranchers, and the people that need great food.
{snip}
From the earliest days of the pandemic, we have marshalled the genius of American scientists and researchers from all across government and the private sector, from academia, from everywhere, to vanquish the virus. And tremendous strides have been made, I can tell you. I get to see it every day. Tremendous strides are being made.
Scientists at the NIH began developing the first vaccine candidate on January 11th — think of that — within hours of the virus’s genetic code being posted online. So, January 11th. Most people never even heard what was going on January 11th. And we were out there trying to develop a vaccine, not even knowing what we were up against.
Then, my administration cut through every piece of red tape to achieve the fastest-ever, by far, launch of a vaccine trial for this new virus, this very vicious virus. And I want to thank all of the doctors and scientists and researchers involved because they’ve never moved like this, or never even close.
{snip}
Today I want to update you on the next stage of this momentous medical initiative. It’s called Operation Warp Speed. That means big and it means fast. A massive scientific, industrial, and logistical endeavor unlike anything our country has seen since the Manhattan Project. You really could say that nobody has seen anything like we’re doing, whether it’s ventilators or testing. Nobody has seen anything like we’re doing now, within our country, since the Second World War. Incredible.
{snip}
And today, we’re proud to announce the addition of two of the most highly respected and skilled professionals in our country — worldwide respected. Operation Warp Speed’s chief scientist will be Dr. Moncef Slaoui, a world-renowned immunologist who helped create 14 new vaccines — that’s a lot of our new vaccines — in 10 years, during his time in the private sector. One of the most respected men in the world in the production and, really, on the formulation of vaccines.
Joining Dr. Slaoui as Chief Operating Officer will be General Gus Perna, a four-star general who currently oversees 190,000 service members, civilians, and contractors as Commander of the U.S. Army Materiel Command. That means logistics. That means getting it out. We got to get it out there.
{snip}
We took over very, very empty cupboards, I say, medically. We also had empty cupboards in a military sense; our military was in sad shape. It was depleted. We now have the strongest military the United States has ever had by far and the best equipment.
And you hear that outside, that beautiful sound; those are truckers that are with us all the way. They’re protesting in favor of President Trump, as opposed to against. There’s hundreds of trucks out there. And that’s the sign of love, not the sign of your typical protests. So I want to thank our great truckers. They like me and I like them. We’re working on something together.
But we have the mightiest — and they’ll be helping us with this, by the way, speaking of truckers. We have the mightiest military in the long history of humankind. We have the best and most devoted workers ever to walk the face of the Earth. And now we’re combining all of these amazing strengths for the most aggressive vaccine project in history. There’s never been a vaccine project anywhere in history like this.
And I just want to make something clear. It’s very important: Vaccine or no vaccine, we’re back. And we’re starting the process. And in many cases, they don’t have vaccines, and a virus or a flu comes, and you fight through it. We haven’t seen anything like this in 100-and-some-odd years — 1917.
But you fight through it. And people sometimes, I guess — we don’t know exactly yet, but it looks like they become immune, or at least for a short while, and maybe for life. But you fight through it. But what we’d like to do, if we can, is the vaccine. I think we’re going to be successful in doing it and hopefully by the end of the year.
Just as generations of Americans before us faced down the most difficult trials, set their sights on the highest summit, and overcame the biggest obstacles, America will meet the moment — and this moment, specifically, in our time. With unrivaled speed, unmatched scale, and the unyielding spirit of the American people, our nation will come back stronger and greater than ever.
We’re going to have a tremendous year next year. We’re going to have a really good fourth quarter. We’re going to have a very interesting and productive transition quarter, where — Steve is there. And I’m sure our Secretary of the Treasury, I think you feel the same way, Steve. So — and thank you for your good work. Really good work. And it’s not finished yet, is it? I want to thank Steve Mnuchin, everybody.
{snip}
SECRETARY AZAR: Well, thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership of this historic effort. Your vision for Operation Warp Speed, setting a goal of a vaccine by January 2021, will be one of the great scientific and humanitarian accomplishments in human history.
{snip}
SECRETARY ESPER: Well, thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership of this bold and historic initiative.
{snip}
Q Mr. President, it’s been three months since you signed the China trade deal. Between what’s happened with coronavirus and the lagging agricultural purchases, are you at any point considering re-imposing additional tariffs on China or tearing up the deal in any other way?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don’t want to talk about it. I can say China is buying a lot of our product. But the trade deal — the ink was barely dry when this came in from China. So it’s not like we’re thrilled.
Okay, go ahead. Please.
Q Mr. President, can I ask one more?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q I’m wondering if you’re standing by the nomination of Michael Pack to lead Voice of America after news that the D.C. Attorney General is (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don’t know what happened. I know that Voice of America is run in a terrible manner. Terrible. They’re not the voice of America, they’re the opposite of the voice of America.
{snip}
Q Do you accept that the current death toll is about 86,000?
THE PRESIDENT: At current, it’s about 86,000. Yes.
Q Do you think that’s accurate, or do you think it’s higher than that?
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t — or lower than that. I don’t know. I don’t know. Those are the numbers that are being reported. I assume they’re correct.
Unlike other countries — I mean, you have some countries — obviously, you have some that are very obviously ridiculous, but our numbers are accurate numbers. We don’t do anything with the numbers one way or the other. Whatever it is —
Q Do you have any indi- —
THE PRESIDENT: — that’s what we do. We take the numbers as reported. Okay?
Q Do you have any indication that they could be lower than that?
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know. If they were, I’d be very happy if they were lower. I’d like to see numbers lower. I’d like to see no death at all. One death is too many. This should have never happened. This came from China. It should have been stopped in China before it got out to the world. We have 186 — it’s been updated this morning — 186 countries are affected.
And each country that’s affected is the same thing. Russia now is badly affected. France is badly affected. You look at what each country — and you can say “affected” or you can say “infected,” either way you want to put it.
But you look at these countries. Look at Italy and you look at Spain and you look at all of these great countries, in many cases, how they’ve — how they’ve had to fight through this. It’s a terrible thing that happened. It could have been stopped at the source. It should have been stopped right at the source, but it wasn’t.
Thank you all very much. We appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.
END
1:16 P.M. EDT
Remarks by President Trump on Vaccine Development
HEALTHCARE
Issued on: May 15, 2020
Rose Garden
12:40 P.M. EDT
THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you very much. It’s very hot today. Please, sit down. This is going to be a very hot one, and we apologize to everybody out there that’s going to suffer through it. But you know what? It’s better than bad weather.
And it’s great to be in the Rose Garden. I want to especially thank this group for joining us as we announce a historic groundbreaking initiative in our ongoing effort to rapidly develop and manufacture a coronavirus vaccine.
We’re joined by Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Secretary Mark Esper, Secretary Alex Azar, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark Milley, FDA Director Dr. Stephen Hahn, Director of the National Institute of Health Dr. Francis Collins, Dr. Fauci, Dr. Birx. We’re joined by a very terrific group of professionals.
Tomorrow will mark 30 days since we released the White House guidelines for a safe and phased opening of America. That’s what we’re doing. It’s the opening of America. We’re going to have an amazing year next year. We’re going to have a great transition into the fourth quarter.
{snip}
For example, today Secretary Perdue, together with Ivanka Trump, launched the Farmers and [to] Families Food Box Program, which will provide $3 billion to help small farmers. And it’ll be helping farmers, ranchers, but it’ll be bringing food to some of the food lines and some of the food kitchens that you’ve been seeing on television. And I said, “Why aren’t we doing that? We have all of this tremendous food produced by our farmers and our ranchers.” And so we’re going to be buying $3 billion worth of that food. Great for everybody: our farmers, our ranchers, and the people that need great food.
{snip}
From the earliest days of the pandemic, we have marshalled the genius of American scientists and researchers from all across government and the private sector, from academia, from everywhere, to vanquish the virus. And tremendous strides have been made, I can tell you. I get to see it every day. Tremendous strides are being made.
Scientists at the NIH began developing the first vaccine candidate on January 11th — think of that — within hours of the virus’s genetic code being posted online. So, January 11th. Most people never even heard what was going on January 11th. And we were out there trying to develop a vaccine, not even knowing what we were up against.
Then, my administration cut through every piece of red tape to achieve the fastest-ever, by far, launch of a vaccine trial for this new virus, this very vicious virus. And I want to thank all of the doctors and scientists and researchers involved because they’ve never moved like this, or never even close.
{snip}
Today I want to update you on the next stage of this momentous medical initiative. It’s called Operation Warp Speed. That means big and it means fast. A massive scientific, industrial, and logistical endeavor unlike anything our country has seen since the Manhattan Project. You really could say that nobody has seen anything like we’re doing, whether it’s ventilators or testing. Nobody has seen anything like we’re doing now, within our country, since the Second World War. Incredible.
{snip}
And today, we’re proud to announce the addition of two of the most highly respected and skilled professionals in our country — worldwide respected. Operation Warp Speed’s chief scientist will be Dr. Moncef Slaoui, a world-renowned immunologist who helped create 14 new vaccines — that’s a lot of our new vaccines — in 10 years, during his time in the private sector. One of the most respected men in the world in the production and, really, on the formulation of vaccines.
Joining Dr. Slaoui as Chief Operating Officer will be General Gus Perna, a four-star general who currently oversees 190,000 service members, civilians, and contractors as Commander of the U.S. Army Materiel Command. That means logistics. That means getting it out. We got to get it out there.
{snip}
We took over very, very empty cupboards, I say, medically. We also had empty cupboards in a military sense; our military was in sad shape. It was depleted. We now have the strongest military the United States has ever had by far and the best equipment.
And you hear that outside, that beautiful sound; those are truckers that are with us all the way. They’re protesting in favor of President Trump, as opposed to against. There’s hundreds of trucks out there. And that’s the sign of love, not the sign of your typical protests. So I want to thank our great truckers. They like me and I like them. We’re working on something together.
But we have the mightiest — and they’ll be helping us with this, by the way, speaking of truckers. We have the mightiest military in the long history of humankind. We have the best and most devoted workers ever to walk the face of the Earth. And now we’re combining all of these amazing strengths for the most aggressive vaccine project in history. There’s never been a vaccine project anywhere in history like this.
And I just want to make something clear. It’s very important: Vaccine or no vaccine, we’re back. And we’re starting the process. And in many cases, they don’t have vaccines, and a virus or a flu comes, and you fight through it. We haven’t seen anything like this in 100-and-some-odd years — 1917.
But you fight through it. And people sometimes, I guess — we don’t know exactly yet, but it looks like they become immune, or at least for a short while, and maybe for life. But you fight through it. But what we’d like to do, if we can, is the vaccine. I think we’re going to be successful in doing it and hopefully by the end of the year.
Just as generations of Americans before us faced down the most difficult trials, set their sights on the highest summit, and overcame the biggest obstacles, America will meet the moment — and this moment, specifically, in our time. With unrivaled speed, unmatched scale, and the unyielding spirit of the American people, our nation will come back stronger and greater than ever.
We’re going to have a tremendous year next year. We’re going to have a really good fourth quarter. We’re going to have a very interesting and productive transition quarter, where — Steve is there. And I’m sure our Secretary of the Treasury, I think you feel the same way, Steve. So — and thank you for your good work. Really good work. And it’s not finished yet, is it? I want to thank Steve Mnuchin, everybody.
{snip}
SECRETARY AZAR: Well, thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership of this historic effort. Your vision for Operation Warp Speed, setting a goal of a vaccine by January 2021, will be one of the great scientific and humanitarian accomplishments in human history.
{snip}
SECRETARY ESPER: Well, thank you, Mr. President, for your leadership of this bold and historic initiative.
{snip}
Q Mr. President, it’s been three months since you signed the China trade deal. Between what’s happened with coronavirus and the lagging agricultural purchases, are you at any point considering re-imposing additional tariffs on China or tearing up the deal in any other way?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don’t want to talk about it. I can say China is buying a lot of our product. But the trade deal — the ink was barely dry when this came in from China. So it’s not like we’re thrilled.
Okay, go ahead. Please.
Q Mr. President, can I ask one more?
THE PRESIDENT: Yeah.
Q I’m wondering if you’re standing by the nomination of Michael Pack to lead Voice of America after news that the D.C. Attorney General is (inaudible)?
THE PRESIDENT: Well, I don’t know what happened. I know that Voice of America is run in a terrible manner. Terrible. They’re not the voice of America, they’re the opposite of the voice of America.
{snip}
Q Do you accept that the current death toll is about 86,000?
THE PRESIDENT: At current, it’s about 86,000. Yes.
Q Do you think that’s accurate, or do you think it’s higher than that?
THE PRESIDENT: I don’t — or lower than that. I don’t know. I don’t know. Those are the numbers that are being reported. I assume they’re correct.
Unlike other countries — I mean, you have some countries — obviously, you have some that are very obviously ridiculous, but our numbers are accurate numbers. We don’t do anything with the numbers one way or the other. Whatever it is —
Q Do you have any indi- —
THE PRESIDENT: — that’s what we do. We take the numbers as reported. Okay?
Q Do you have any indication that they could be lower than that?
THE PRESIDENT: Oh, I don’t know. I don’t know. If they were, I’d be very happy if they were lower. I’d like to see numbers lower. I’d like to see no death at all. One death is too many. This should have never happened. This came from China. It should have been stopped in China before it got out to the world. We have 186 — it’s been updated this morning — 186 countries are affected.
And each country that’s affected is the same thing. Russia now is badly affected. France is badly affected. You look at what each country — and you can say “affected” or you can say “infected,” either way you want to put it.
But you look at these countries. Look at Italy and you look at Spain and you look at all of these great countries, in many cases, how they’ve — how they’ve had to fight through this. It’s a terrible thing that happened. It could have been stopped at the source. It should have been stopped right at the source, but it wasn’t.
Thank you all very much. We appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you.
END
1:16 P.M. EDT
2 replies
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