Outgoing President Donald Trump repeated a variety of talking points, including a variety of misstatements, falsehoods and outright lies, regarding his administration’s response to the coronavirus in a Rose Garden statement.
Trump started to state that “the next administration,” in a tacit admission that he would not be in office next term, but quickly realized his admission and added the caveat, “whoever that may be” and “we’ll see what comes next,” stating that his administration would never order a lockdown.
It was very clear that Trump is attempted to secure credit for future responses to the coronavirus by the incoming Biden administration. In fact, the Trump administration did not enact any domestic policy to stop the spread of the virus.
Trump claimed that Pfizer, who announced a vaccine with 90% effectiveness, made “an unfortunate mistake” in claiming that it wasn’t part of his administration’s “Operation Warp Speed” because the company got a contract to supply the government.
“While Pfizer did reach an advanced purchase agreement with the U.S. government, the company did not accept (Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority) funding for the research and development process. All the investment for R&D was made by Pfizer at risk. Dr. Jansen was emphasizing that last point,” a Pfizer spokesperson said in an email to CNN.
Trump claimed that three vaccines, other than the Pfizer vaccine, would be available “within the next few weeks.” Trump claimed the vaccines would be available “as soon as April” but he also put on the caveat that New York State would not get the vaccine for “political” reasons, because Governor Andrew Cuomo insists on having their state independently verify the safety of the vaccine.
In another fallacy, Trump claimed that the only reason the US has more cases is dependent on the number of tests. In fact, the US also has the most fatalities and more than 60,000 people hospitalized with coronavirus, which is independent of testing.
The majority of Trump’s statement was just a restating of talking points his administration had created. He gave no date for the distribution of a vaccine, just that one would be available “in a few week.” Most experts agree that a vaccine would not be approved, manufactured and distributed before next Spring or Summer.
After making a rambling 20 minute list of alleged achievements, Trump turned the podium over to members of the coronavirus task force, including Vice President Mike Pence, who spent the last week on vacation. Neither Dr. Anthony Fauci or Dr. Deborah Birx were part of the delegation.
President-elect Joe Biden has said that his priority coming into the Presidency in January would be fighting the coronavirus. Biden has said he would mandate mask wearing on federal grounds, as well as encourage governors to mandate mask wearing in their respective states, to curb the spread of the virus.