Donald Trump walks out on reporters after revealing ‘major virus breakthrough’

Donald Trump walked out on reporters after a question about his “major historic coronavirus breakthrough” in a press conference.

Donald Trump has walked out on reporters after a question about his “major coronavirus breakthrough” in a press conference.

He said American authorities have secured emergency approval of blood plasma from recovered coronavirus patients as a treatment against the disease that has killed over 176,000 in the US.

Mr Trump said the approval is a “historic breakthrough”.

“This is a powerful therapy that transfuses very, very strong antibodies from the blood of recovered patients to help treat patients battling a current infection. It’s had an incredible rate of success,” he said.

The plasma is believed to contain powerful antibodies that can help fight off the disease faster and help protect people from being seriously hurt by it.

Mr Trump took a couple of question from reporters before one asked about how safe and effective the treatment is — which the reporter implied Mr Trump was over-egging.

Mr Trump handed over to FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn who said: “If you’re one of these 35 out of 100 people who this data suggest, or show survive as a result of it, this is pretty significant for that person and their family.”

Mr Trump then abruptly ended the conference after three questions.

“This is a very big day, a day we’ve been looking forward to. Thank you very much great question,” he said before walking out to a barrage of questions from reporters.

Donald Trump has revealed what he says is a “major therapeutic breakthrough”. Picture: AFP

“This product may be effective in treating COVID-19 and... the known and potential benefits of the product outweigh the known and potential risks of the product,” the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a statement.

While the treatment has already been used on patients in the United States and other nations, the extent of its effectiveness is still debated by experts and some have warned that it could carry side effects.

“Convalescent plasma probably works — though it still needs to be proven in clinical trials — but not as a rescue treatment for people who are already severely ill,” Len Horovitz, a pulmonary specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, told AFP.

He said that plasma would likely work much better right after a person was exposed to the virus, when the body is trying to neutralise the infection.

It comes after the US President accused the FDA of being part of the “deep state” and was holding up vaccine testing until after the election.

Overnight, White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany tweeted about a “major therapeutic breakthrough” being revealed this morning. She said US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar and FDA head Stephen Hahn would be attending.

Thanks to President @realDonaldTrump’s leadership, the FDA has issued an Emergency Use Authorization for convalescent plasma, another safe and effective therapeutic identified in treating the China Virus.

— Kayleigh McEnany (@PressSec) August 23, 2020

Human trials for a COVID-19 vaccine are currently being carried out around the world in a bid to beat the pandemic, which has killed 800,000 people worldwide so far, including 174,000 Americans.

No vaccine has passed all the safety checks necessary to roll it out in the general population.

However, yesterday Mr Trump claimed the FDA was trying to block efforts to immunise Americans until after the November election.

He tweeted: “The deep state, or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics.

The deep state, or whoever, over at the FDA is making it very difficult for drug companies to get people in order to test the vaccines and therapeutics. Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives! @SteveFDA

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) August 22, 2020

“Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives!”

Mr Trump tweeted again FDA’s decision to revoke emergency authorisation of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine for treating COVID-19 because it was “unlikely to be effective”.

But he claimed: “Many doctors and studies disagree with this!”

With AFP