The head of the U.S. National Institutes of Health told a Senate panel no one knew precisely when a vaccine for the novel coronavirus would be ready.
NIH head refutes Trump claim of vaccine by election day
"Will it be done by a certain date?
I could not possibly tell you right now because I don't know what's going to happen," said NIH Director Dr. Francis Collins.
"And certainly," he added, "to try and predict whether it happens on a particular week, either before or after a particular date in early November is well beyond anything that any scientist could tell you." Collins was asked by U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders about a vaccine claim by President Donald Trump last week that, "we think we can probably have it some time during the month of October." That suggestion provoked pushback from scientists and health officials who did not share the president's outlook, and sparked outrage from Democrats who accused the president of undermining confidence in public health officials for political purposes.
Sanders asked Dr. Collins if he would join calls for the president of the United States "to get out of science, and let the scientists do their job?" "I can't say strongly enough that the decisions about how this vaccine is going to be evaluated and assessed is going to be based on science," Dr. Collins replied.
Trump is seeking re-election on November 6.