Donald Trump’s advisor claims COVID vaccine will be ready by November

A “safe and effective” coronavirus jab could be ready by the end of November, according to Donald Trump’s top COVID-19 expert.

There’s some hope on the horizon when it comes to the fight against coronavirus, with US government scientist Dr Antony Fauci claiming a vaccine could be available within weeks.

Speaking to the BBC’s Andrew Marr recently, Dr Fauci said the jab could start to be rolled out in the US by the end of the year.

“We will know whether a vaccine is safe and effective by the end of November, the beginning of December,” he said on air.

“But the question is, once you have a safe and effective vaccine, or more than one, how can you get it to the people who need it as quickly as possible?

“The amount of doses that will be available in December will not certainly be enough to vaccinate everybody, you’ll have to wait several months into 2021.”

However, Dr Fauci said there would be a “prioritisation”, with healthcare workers or those at increased risk from COVID-19 getting the vaccine ahead of others deemed to be at a lower risk.

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Donald Trump’s coronavirus adviser Dr Anthony Fauci is convinced there’s some good news coming. Picture: Mandel Ngan/AFP

But he stressed the vaccine would not remove the need for public health measures such as social distancing in the months ahead.

Dr Fauci’s claims come after the US donated $1 billion to go towards the Oxford University-AstraZeneca vaccine and secured 400 million doses, while the UK government has also ordered 100 million doses provided it is deemed to be safe.

To date, the US is leading the world when it comes to both the total number of coronavirus cases – which stands at 8,632,200, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally – and the death toll, which is 225,212.

There have been 876,840 coronavirus cases in the UK, and 44,986 fatalities.

Meanwhile, White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows has delivered a brutal assessment of America’s handling of the pandemic, telling CNN’s State of the Union the nation was “not going to control the pandemic”.

Instead, America would have to rely on a vaccine, drugs and other measures.

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Dr Fauci said a vaccine would be rolled out according to priority. Picture: Juan Mabromata/AFP

“We’re not going to control the pandemic. We are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigation efforts … Because it is a contagious virus just like the flu,” Mr Meadows told CNN’s Jake Tapper.

“ … What we need to do is make sure that we have the proper mitigation factors — whether it’s therapies or vaccines or treatments — to make sure that people don’t die from this.”

Mark Meadows: “We’re not going to control the pandemic, we are going to control the fact that we get vaccines, therapeutics and other mitigations.”

Jake Tapper: “Why aren’t we going to get control of the pandemic?”

Meadows: “Because it is a contagious virus” #CNNSOTU pic.twitter.com/1ahyatu6co

— State of the Union (@CNNSotu) October 25, 2020

Critics seized on Mr Meadows’ comments, claiming they were proof the Trump administration had given up the fight against it.

“This wasn’t a slip by Meadows,” Democratic hopeful Joe Biden said in a statement, according to the New York Post.

“It was a candid acknowledgment of what President Trump’s strategy has clearly been from the beginning of this crisis: to wave the white flag of defeat and hope that by ignoring it, the virus would simply go away. It hasn’t, and it won’t.”