President Donald Trump announced Wednesday, September 16, 2020, that a White House staff member was infected with the new CORONA virus but w...
President Donald Trump announced Wednesday, September 16, 2020, that a White House staff member was infected with the new CORONA virus but was not close to him, at a time when the president was embroiled in a new controversy with the director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), over the timing of the availability of the Corona vaccine and the wearing of masks.
White House spokeswoman Kylie McInnes said the newly discovered case "did not affect" the signing ceremony of the agreements on the normalization of relations between Bahrain and the UAE on the one hand, and Israel on the other, noting that the sick employee did not approach the journalists who covered the event.
McKinney did not specify the location of the infected White House employee, nor did she mention his name, nor the environment in which he was present during the signing of the normalization agreement.
Controversy over masks and vaccine: This comes at a time when President Trump has entered a new war with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) over masks and vaccines, with the president expressing his opposition to the center's director after he said that the new CORONA vaccine may not be widely introduced before mid-2021 and that masks may be more effective.
In testimony before a congressional committee, Robert Redfield said a vaccine for the coronavirus could be available to citizens by the end of the second quarter or in the third quarter of 2021.
At a press conference, however, Trump expressed his belief that the vaccine would be introduced much sooner, saying that he "contacted Redfield after his testimony to ask him about it, and that the question seemed to confuse him (Redfield)."
Trump commented on Redfield's testimony, saying he made a mistake with his remarks without meaning it, adding that he believed that "it's a matter of being confused."
Trump also said the vaccine could be available within weeks, and that there is a plan for its widespread distribution immediately after FDA approval.
While the president is looking forward to making progress on the vaccine before the November 3 presidential election, at a time when a number of companies have begun a final phase of vaccine trials, none of them have yet been proven effective and safe.
As for the gags, Trump also criticized Redfield for saying that putting a mask ON might be as effective as a vaccine, and Trump initially refrained from urging Americans to put masks ON, but he became more willing to do so at a time when he was still holding meetings with participants, many of whom were not committed to masks.
Trump said masks are no more effective than the vaccine, while Redfield wrote on Twitter late Wednesday that he believes in the importance of the vaccine "100%", adding that it is the Covid-19 vaccine that will make Americans return to their normal daily lives.
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