Trump Promises Covid-19 Vaccine: We’re ‘Unleashing American Scientific Genius’

President Donald Trump said the nation would develop a vaccine for Covid-19 on Monday after his National Security Advisor became the latest administration official to test positive for the disease. Trump has repeatedly downplayed the dangers posed by the virus.

“We will achieve a victory over the virus by unleashing American scientific genius,” Trump said during a visit to a biotechnologies firm in Morrisville, North Carolina.

He chose to travel to there on the same day that the late Congressman John Lewis was lying in state in the Capitol Rotunda.

Trump said it’s “never been done before, but we suspect it’s going to work and work very well.”

The President’s comments on a potential vaccine comes as public health experts continue to suggest it could be 2021 at the earliest before a workable vaccine can be rolled out to the public. By then, the U.S. death toll will have grown well beyond the 148,000 already recorded.

Meanwhile, several people close to Trump have been diagnosed with the disease over the course of the pandemic. The President has declined to speak publicly about the Secret Service agents and officials who’ve contracted Coronavirus, but the White House has insisted he’s not at risk.