Trump touts vaccine progress
Gliding over the significant challenges still to come, US President Donald Trump offered a rosy update on the race for a vaccine for the resurgent coronavirus in his first public remarks since his defeat by President- elect Joe Biden.
He still did not concede the election, however.
Trump spoke from the White House’s Rose Garden yesterday as the US set new records for confirmed cases of Covid-19, hospitalisations neared critical levels, and fatalities climbed to their highest numbers since the northern spring.
He said a vaccine would be shipped in ‘‘a matter of weeks’’ to vulnerable populations, though the US Food and Drug Administration has not yet been asked to grant the necessary emergency approvals.
As states impose new restrictions, Trump asked all Americans to remain ‘‘vigilant’’, But he ruled out a nationwide lockdown – and appeared to acknowledge that the decision won’t be his for much longer.
‘‘Hopefully, whatever happens in the future, who knows? Which administration it will be, I guess time will tell – but I can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown,’’ he said.
Biden appealed for Trump to take ‘‘ urgent action’’ to curtail the spread of the virus.
There is no guarantee that Pfizer’s vaccine, the front-runner, will get rapid authorisation for emergency use. Even if it does, there is no information indicating if it works in older adults.
Nor does Pfizer have a large commercial stockpile ready to ship. Initial batches would be small and targeted at certain stillto-be-determined populations.
Trump took no questions from reporters after his speech. He hasn’t answered questions since before Election Day.
■ Republicans yesterday suffered setbacks to court challenges over the presidential election in three battleground states.
A federal appeals court rejected an effort to block about 9300 mail-in ballots that arrived after Election Day in Pennsylvania. In Michigan, a judge refused to stop the certification of Detroit- area election results. In Arizona, campaign lawyers sought to withdraw efforts to seek a manual inspection of ballots in metro Phoenix, as it became clear that the number of ballots at issue could not change the outcome of the presidential race.
Meanwhile, 16 assistant US attorneys assigned to monitor malfeasance in the election urged Attorney General William Barr yesterday to rescind his recent memorandum allowing investigators to publicly pursue allegations of ‘‘ vote tabulation irregularities’’ in certain cases before the results are certified. They said they had not seen evidence of any substantial anomalies.