Ivanka Trump Promises To Take Coronavirus Vaccine On ‘The View’ Once It’s Ready After Joy Behar Challenge
Ivanka Trump tweeted on Thursday that she will take the coronavirus vaccine — if and/or when it’s ready for widespread use — live on The View after host Joy Behar suggested that she wouldn’t take such an inoculation unless the president’s daughter did so first, The Hill reported.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, Donald Trump’s administration has been keen to get a vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 — the pathogen behind the COVID-19 pandemic — developed and deployed as soon as possible. However, the manufacturers have insisted that the process will be driven by science rather than political pressure. Similarly, health experts have warned that rushing an immunization into production — before all the data is in and has been analyzed — could result in something that is not safe and effective, or could undermine confidence in it.
On Wednesday’s episode of The View, host Joy Behar posited that she, too, already lacks confidence in any potential coronavirus vaccine.
“[President Trump] will push anything to get re-elected. Don’t fall for it,” Behar said, noting that the development of vaccines can take years, if not decades.
“The mumps vaccine took four years, the polio vaccine took 20 years, and the smallpox vaccine took a few centuries.”
She also stated that she would take the vaccine if someone else did so first.
“And by the way, I will take the vaccine after Ivanka takes it,” she added.
In a tweet Thursday morning, Ivanka responded in the affirmative, noting that she has confidence in the regulatory agency that oversees drug manufacturing. You can see her post here.
“I trust the FDA and so should all Americans. Vanquishing this virus should be our collective top priority,” she said.
Meanwhile, President Trump remains bullish on a coronavirus vaccine being ready sooner rather than later. As recently as Monday he suggested that Operation Warp Speed, the federal private-public partnership intended to get a coronavirus inoculation developed as quickly as possible, would provide a useful immunization by October. He had previously suggested a timeline of having one ready by the end of the year.
Both of those timetables could be a bit ambitious, however. National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease Director Anthony Fauci has previously stated that the October timeline is unlikely — although theoretically possible, as Reuters reported.
However, in what may be seen as a blow to those hoping for the process to be over quickly, AstraZeneca had to pause its clinical trials after a human test subject got sick. The manufacturer had been working on a vaccine that showed great promise in testing on animals.
AstraZeneca hopes to resume trials after an independent, third-party review board has had a chance to analyze the data and determine what happened to the sickened patient.
