CDC Prepping For ‘Large-Scale Distribution’ Of Vaccines This Fall After Trump Makes Dubious Promise

The CDC and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have reached out to state governments and urged them to be ready for a “large-scale distribution of the Covid-19 vaccines” by Nov. 1. This notice was reportedly sent on Aug. 27, the same day that President Donald Trump insisted that a vaccine could be ready by the end of the year during his RNC speech.

Despite this notice from CDC Director Robert Redfield, and Trump’s past assurances, the likelihood of a vaccine be ready by November is slim.

Only the companies currently working on vaccine candidates for the novel coronavirus have reached the finals stages of clinical testing. These last trials can often take months to complete, and no results are expected until the end of 2020. While agreeing that governments at all levels should be ready to distribute a vaccine as soon as possible, most health officials doubt that one will be ready anytime soon.

Despite Trump's insistence that a vaccine will be ready sooner rather than later, the Food and Drug Administration has assured the public that it will not approve a vaccine before it is deemed completely safe. Such fears were raised when Russia recently approved a vaccine despite it not being tested in large trials, a move that drew intense criticism from the worldwide medical community.

Some have dismissed that move as an attempt by the Trump administration to drum up election hype by talking a big game when it comes to a COVID-19 vaccine.

“This timeline of the initial deployment at the end of October is deeply worrisome for the politicization of public health and the potential safety ramifications,” Saskia Popescu, an infection prevention epidemiologist based in Arizona, told the New York Times. “It’s hard not to see this as a push for a pre-election vaccine.”