Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said that reopening plans do not entirely “depend on a vaccine” after the Trump administration set a goal to develop a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year.”
May 17 (UPI) — Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Sunday that plans to reopen businesses, schools and other facilities do not rely entirely on the development of a vaccine for COVID-19.
Appearing on CNN’s State of the Union, Azar sought to clarify comments by President Donald Trump during a news conference on Friday during which he said “vaccine or no vaccine, we’re back” while announcing a crash effort to develop a vaccine before the end of the year.
“So what the president was making the point on is — everything does not depend on a vaccine. We’ere committed to delivering a vaccine, but that’s one of a multi-factorial response program,” said Azar. “First is the testing we talked about before, test symptomatic people, broad surveillance to find cases, surge and to contain. Also therapeutics.”
Azar also told CBS News’Face the Nation that the administration’s plan to prepare 300 million doses of a coronavirus by the end of the year was a goal and “not a pledge.
