Remarks by President Trump in Press Briefing | September 16, 2020 | Eastern North Carolina Now

    But what we've done with the streamlining has been incredible, and very safely. Number one is safety. Number two is speed. But you can have perfect safety and have much more speed, and that's what we did.

    We did this for more than the vaccine, having to do with the China virus. This was also for other things. So many other great drugs are out there that would take 10, 12 years to get them approved, and we've moved those schedules up a lot.

    But if this were Obama-Biden, this would have taken two, three years before you were at a stage where we are now at. So we're going to be very soon. And it's sort of funny to watch Joe Biden getting up and reading a teleprompter and saying how - how he would have done this. They had H1N1. He calls it the "N1H1"; it's H1N1. It's called the swine flu, and it was a disaster.

    And, as I said, the person that ran it for him said the worst things about it. I mean, just - they didn't know what they were doing, they quit. They had no clue. And that was easy, by comparison to this. This is the most contagious - contagious flu or virus that anybody has seen. This is unbelievable how contagious it is. You found that out.

    But I watched Biden quickly as he discussed, without having - without knowing a thing about a distribution plan. And he said that we don't have a distribution plan, but we do indeed. Our military - we have military, we have everybody involved. It's - it's a great plan, and it's a plan like no other.

    And we can start doing it, I believe, the day that we come up with the vaccine. When it's done, we'll start. That same day, or the day after. Our military is very much involved, and they deploy troops, they deploy - these are the generals that do logistics and all of those things. And we'll have it all over the county, and then, ultimately, hopefully we'll helping the world with the vaccine. And it's very exciting.

    But maybe I'd ask Scott Atlas to come up and describe a little bit about that and the distribution plan, in particular, because Biden acted as though there was no distribution plan, and we've been working on this for months, and it's ready. And Scott has really taken a hold of it and done an incredible job.

    And please, Scott. Thank you.


    DR. ATLAS: Thank you. Thank you, Mr. President. And I didn't develop the plan, I'm just relaying information here. And - but this is a plan that's a 57-page document that was sent to every state today, and there is a different part of this that was given to Congress today. It was released by HHS. It's on the website. And, in fact, I thought it was covered actually by the media, so I don't think it's a surprise, but it's a comprehensive plan. It's a public-private partnership to get everything done in terms of logistics.

    The IT that's necessary to trace the first dose - because some of these vaccines are anticipated to be two doses - there is tailoring, of course, by the states, and there are specifics. And there's an administration of the vaccine plan that will be done in over 51,000 outlets, including for - particular attention to minority areas, over 14,000 Federally Qualified Health Centers.

    And as the President just said, within the first 24 hours of FDA's approval under an emergency use, we will have vaccines being delivered within the first 24 hours, and it will be done at virtually no cost to Americans.

    And the terms of the dosage: There will be - is it anticipated that no later than January all the top priority people will have received the vaccine or be able to receive the vaccine. And so that kind of prioritization, which is the general prioritization done for all vaccines that are developed, particularly in a pandemic setting, goes to the high-risk people, the people with other underlying conditions, as well as first responders and people working directly in healthcare. And so that's going to be done very rapidly.

    Okay.

    THE PRESIDENT: Good, thank you.

    DR. ATLAS: Thank you.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Thank you.

    Q Mr. President -

    THE PRESIDENT: Yeah. Go ahead.

    Q Mr. President, earlier today, Dr. Redfield confirmed that it looked like November, December the first doses would be able to be distributed. But then he said that the vaccine for the general public likely would not be available until probably next summer, maybe even early fall. Are you comfortable with that timeline?

    THE PRESIDENT: No, I think he made a mistake when he said that. It's just incorrect information. And I called him, and he didn't tell me that, and I think he got the message maybe confused. Maybe it was stated incorrectly. No, we're ready to go immediately as the vaccine is announced, and it could be announced in October. It could be announced a little bit after October. But once we go, we're ready.

    As you know, Pfizer is making this. They're taking a tremendous financial risk, and they're spending billions of dollars on actually making this vaccine. They're at a stage where they're actually making it because they feel very confident as to the results. They'll be announcing their results fairly soon. And, no, he's - that's incorrect information.

    Q But he was pretty clear in the way he said it.

    THE PRESIDENT: Yeah, well, I think so, but I don't think he means that. I don't think he - when he said it, I believe he was confused. I'm just telling you: We're ready to go as soon as the vaccine happens.

    Q So when do you want to see it available? What would be a timeline that you would be happy with?

    THE PRESIDENT: I would say that - yeah, we will start distributing it immediately.

    Q But to the general public.

    THE PRESIDENT: To the general public, very shortly there- - I mean, really, to the general public: immediately. When we go, we go. We're not looking to say, "Gee, in six months, we're going to start giving it to the general public." No, we want to go immediately. No, it was an incorrect statement. I saw the statement. I called him, and I said, "What did you mean by that?" And I think he just made a mistake. He just made a mistake. I think he misunderstood the question, probably.

    Q So if you were to put a timeline on when every person in America will be able to get a vaccine, what would that date be?

    THE PRESIDENT: I think it would be very soon. I think our distribution process is going to go very quickly. I told you, we've engaged the military. We have a general who's in charge of all logistics, who delivers soldiers. He's a fantastic guy. He's supposed to be fantastic at what he does. And we figure that's better than any company you're going to hire. You can't hire a company like that.


    And we look to the distribution immediately after we get the word that it's good. And I think they're having tremendous success with the vaccine itself. I think the results will be early and strong. The safety has to be 100 percent, and we're going to insist on that. And, obviously, the companies are going to insist on that also.

    Q So could you put an actual date to it - January, February, March?

    THE PRESIDENT: Scott, what would you think?

    DR. ATLAS: Yeah. As I said, the high-priority people will have -

    Q Sure.

    DR. ATLAS: - in sometime no later than January. I mean, of course, it depends on when things are approved and the emergency use is given.

    Q But what about - I'm talking though about the low-priority people.

    DR. ATLAS: I understand. Yeah. I can finish.

    Q Yeah.

    DR. ATLAS: And then it is anticipated there will be 700 million doses by end of Q1. That's 700 million doses.

    Q So, by the end of March?

    DR. ATLAS: That's end of Q1.

    Q Dr. Atlas, do you mind if I ask you a question?

    THE PRESIDENT: Q1, he said.

    Q And that's the end of March, right?

    Q It's one thing to have the doses, but we've talked to a lot of public health experts who say if this is happening in the winter and you have to socially distance, you can't have the packed lines that we saw during H1N1. You can't have packed auditoriums. You have to space it out. So that's one thing.

    Another thing they're worried about is storing these vaccines. And since we don't know which one is the winner, you know, doctors' offices may not have dry ice to handle negative 80 degrees. So these are challenges. Are you prepared to say that you can overcome all those in three months?

    DR. ATLAS: Yes, because, at least, I've been briefed on the vaccine, okay? And so all the refrigerators that are necessary - everything is going to be in a place for this.

    There is a very detailed logistical plan that was started months ago, and, you know, you're welcome to read it on the web, but basically, yeah, all those things are not a problem really. I mean, if people know how to shop for groceries or go into a store or sit in the restaurants that are open, and use social distancing, I think they can do it for vaccines too.

    THE PRESIDENT: And you also have more than one company. You have Johnson & Johnson. You have Pfizer. You have Moderna. You have others. So we could conceivably have vaccines being given out by numerous companies, and they're all world-class companies. They're fantastic companies. That could happen also. Okay?

    Yeah, please. Go ahead.

    Q Thank you, Mr. President. Are you prepared to sign off on the Oracle and TikTok deal, even though the Treasury isn't getting paid? And also, does the deal meet your requirements in terms of national security concerns?

    THE PRESIDENT: Okay, they're giving me studies on the deal. It has to be 100 percent as far as national security is concerned. And, no, I'm not prepared to sign off on anything. I have to see the deal.


    We need security, especially after what we've seen with respect to China and what's going on. We want security. So I'll let you know. They're going to be reporting to me tomorrow morning, and I will let you know.

    Q And what about the payment?

    THE PRESIDENT: The what?

    Q What about the payment to the Treasury?

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, we're going to see about that. Amazingly, I find that you're not allowed to do that. You're not allowed to accept - and I said, "What kind of a gov- - what kind of a thing is? If they're willing to make big payments to the government, they're not allowed, because there's no - there's no way of doing that from a - there's no legal path to doing that. And I'm saying, "Wait a minute. They're willing to make a big payment to the government and we're not allowed to take the money? When does this happen? How foolish can we be?" So we're going to - we're looking into that right now. You understand that.