At 4:00 pm Eastern Time (ET), President Donald Trump gave an update on Operation Warp Speed from Rose Garden, White House along with Vice President Mike Pence, Dr. Moncef Slaoui, chief adviser of Operation Warp Speed and Gen. Gustave Perna, Chief Operating Officer of Operation Warp Speed (OWS).
This was the first time the President came out and spoke in the public since different television networks projected on Saturday that Joe Biden has been elected the 46th President of the United States.
Last time President Trump spoke on November 5 when he claimed to have been stripped of the presidency through rigged elections.
As a result of Operation Warp Speed, Pfizer announced on Monday that its vaccine is more than 90% effective!
"In July, my Administration reached an agreement with Pfizer to provide $1.95 billion to support the mass manufacturing and distribution of 100 million doses." pic.twitter.com/KYI6qu2oly
— The White House 45 Archived (@WhiteHouse45) November 13, 2020
Claiming credit for record time vaccine development
During the press conference, President Trump took credit for the Pfizer Vaccine as well as other vaccines developed by the likes of Oxford and Astra Zenica. According to the speakers, the development of Covid vaccine would never have been possible in a record time of 6-7 months had the Trump administration not wholly and solely supported its development.
Read more: Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine 90% effective in Phase 3 trial
They pointed out that in July, the administration signed a contract with Pfizer for 1.95 billion USD “to support mass manufacturing and distribution of 100 million doses”. This helped the firm develop the vaccine earlier than expected as the US government assured them that they would purchase their product.
Quite credibly and convincingly President Trump and his aides offered and explained facts. They particularly highlighted how the vaccine had been developed at a record speed and time which had been unprecedented in human history. This kind of vaccine could’ve easily taken up to 10 years. Under very favourable circumstances, it could’ve taken up to 4-5 years, at the least.
The average development timeline for a vaccine can take 8-12 years.
Through Operation Warp Speed, we're doing it in less than one year—5X faster than the fastest vaccine development in history. pic.twitter.com/nEwLdUCtiv
— The White House 45 Archived (@WhiteHouse45) November 13, 2020
Trump explained that his administration was putting in massive efforts for rolling out the vaccines.
It’s noteworthy that the vaccines will not only act as future preventions but also as treatment. So all the people who have contracted Covid and are currently sick – once the vaccine is available and approved by the FDA – can be directly administered as a therapeutic tool as well.
Did Pfizer deliberately put off announcement of vaccine?
Sources close to the Trump administration suspect that Pfizer was actually in a position to declare the finalisation of the vaccine before the November 3 elections. The top management of Pfizer, however, clarified that the moment they found out that the trials are 90% effective they came forward with it to the media. Pfizer released the news on 9th November.
Trump just spoke from Rose Garden along with Dr. Moncef Slaoui & Gen. Gustave, of Operation Warp Speed, and they explained quite credibly that this unusually rapid speed of "Vaccine development" (less than 7 months) happened because of the unusual support by US Govt (Trump Admn)
— Moeed Pirzada (@MoeedNj) November 13, 2020
However, there are lingering doubts in the Trump administration that Pfizer and the other companies have somehow withheld the information and had they declared the information on November 3 or before that – it could’ve had a more positive effect on Trump administration in the election.
Read more: US signs $2 billion deal for coronavirus vaccines with Pfizer and BioNTech
On the brink of acknowledging election defeat
Through this unusual press conference in the afternoon of November 13 (ET) – President Trump wanted to send a clear message. He also explained the disasters of the pandemic, saying that his administration has never supported lockdowns – they are a bigger problem than the solution.
Gen. Gustave Perna: "We have capitalized on the best contracting, logistics, and planning experts available to synchronize and integrate all phases of the operation." pic.twitter.com/pcaSyvh88K
— The White House 45 Archived (@WhiteHouse45) November 13, 2020
“I will not — this administration will not be doing a lockdown. 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,” Trump said in the Rose Garden, his first public remarks in days.
This was the first time President Trump came so close to acknowledging that he will not be president after Jan. 20.