Editor’s Note: This is currently a subject that is changing on a day to day basis, so the facts in this article may have changed since the time it was written.

“We are going to have a great vaccine very, very shortly. I think we should have it before the election.” President Trump announced during a White House briefing. From now, October 11th, the Presidential Election is in twenty-two days. Could this be true? Could A-K friends finally see their L-Z friends at school by the end of the first semester? However, the World Health Organization, more commonly known as WHO, says that we may not see a vaccine until mid-2021. 

President Trump was most likely referring to Dexamethasone, a steroid he has been taking since arriving at Walter Reed Hospital. Earlier this year, a large clinical trial in the United Kingdom found this steroid helped reduce coronavirus death. Dr. Celine Grounder, the assistant professor of medicine and infectious disease at New York University School of Medicine, stated that this steroid is now part of the standard coronavirus care. It is not surprising doctors gave President Trump this steroid as, being old and obese, he is highly susceptible to death. However, President Trump has expressly stated there will be a vaccine, not a steroid preventing death. 

Currently, eleven vaccines are being tracked by WHO. If a vaccine is found in phase three, thousands of infected-people will receive it so scientists can study more information about if the vaccine is safe for the general public. Dr. Anthony Fauci, an immunology expert, says he is confident that at least one of these vaccines will be distributed to a broader group of people next year. He also states that there could be multiple vaccines, like one vaccine could be more useful for older people and some for people in certain climates. The difficulty will be in creating the doses for worldwide vaccines. Dr. Fauci says twenty million doses will be available for people who work in the medical field, and seven hundred million should be available for wide-scale vaccination sometime next year.

Works Cited:

BerkeleyJr. “Trump Says U.S. Could Start Distributing a Coronavirus Vaccine in October, Contradicting CDC’s Timeline.” CNBC, CNBC, 16 Sept. 2020, www.cnbc.com/2020/09/16/trump-says-he-thinks-us-could-start-distributing-a-coronavirus-vaccine-in-october.html.

Chatterjee, Rhitu. “Trump Was Treated With Steroids: How These Drugs Are Used For COVID-19 Patients.” NPR, NPR, 8 Oct. 2020, www.npr.org/sections/latest-updates-trump-covid-19-results/2020/10/08/921629391/trump-still-on-steroids-how-these-drugs-are-typically-used-to-treat-covid-19.

“Dr. Fauci: Why FDA’s Coronavirus Vaccine Review Will Be Politics-Free.” American Medical Association, 30 Sept. 2020, www.ama-assn.org/delivering-care/public-health/dr-fauci-why-fda-s-coronavirus-vaccine-review-will-be-politics-free.

Kommenda, Niko, and Frank Hulley-Jones. “Covid Vaccine Tracker: When Will a Coronavirus Vaccine Be Ready?” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2020/oct/10/covid-vaccine-tracker-when-will-a-coronavirus-vaccine-be-ready.