Trump Bets On COVID-19 Vaccine For Political Shot In Arm

United States President Donald Trump promised to defeat the coronavirus "unleashing the American scientific genius" as he toured a COVID-19 vaccine facility in the state of North Carolina on Monday.

Trump appears to have pinned his hopes on the swift emergence of a successful vaccine to contain the country's still raging epidemic and revive his faltering hopes for reelection.

"We will achieve a victory over the virus by unleashing the American scientific genius," Diosynth Biotechnologies in Morrisville told reporters at Fujifilm hours after it was revealed that national security adviser Robert O'Brien had tested positive.

The facility was awarded a contract to mass-produce an experimental vaccine developed by Novavax as part of a multi-million dollar government initiative called Operation Warp Speed.

The plan involves investing heavily in leading pharmaceuticals to aid its development and manufacturing efforts, with the goal of delivering 300 million doses of the vaccine by January 2021.

"It has never been done before, but we suspect it will work, and it will work very well," added Trump, who then donned a black mask and toured the lab.

The United States is by far the most affected country in the world, with more than 4.2 million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and almost 150,000 deaths.

Although the number of new cases has stabilized in recent days, the United States has not managed to reduce its curve as other nations have done through blockages and physical distancing.

Trump's latest comments confirmed that the administration believes that, in the case of the United States, only a vaccine can help.

"They are not masks. It is not shutting down the economy. Hopefully, it is American ingenuity that will allow therapies and vaccines to finally conquer this," White House chief of staff Mark Meadows told ABC News on Sunday. .

The virus has also repeatedly penetrated Trump's inner circle, and O'Brien is the latest and foremost White House aide to test positive.

"He has self-insulated and has worked from a secure off-site location," the White House said in a statement Monday, adding that "there was no risk of exposure to the president or vice president."

Others who have been previously infected include Vice President Mike Pence's spokeswoman Katie Miller and Kimberly Guilfoyle, one of the top fundraisers for the Trump campaign and the girlfriend of her oldest son.