It is a lead-up, of kinds, to the primary presidential debate coming on the finish of the month. It comes not a second too quickly, as in-person early voting started as we speak in Virginia, Minnesota, South Dakota and Wyoming. Some voters confronted long (and socially distant) lines as we speak to solid ballots that can rely towards November’s election.
However because the pandemic rages and America approaches one more grim milestone — 200,000 deaths — Trump claimed there might be sufficient doses of a Covid-19 vaccine for each American by April.
Earlier this week, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, mentioned in a Senate listening to that the American public may anticipate to begin seeing outcomes from widespread coronavirus vaccination within the second or third quarter of 2021. Even when a vaccine had been launched as we speak, it could take six to 9 months for sufficient individuals to obtain it to create immunity, he mentioned.
There’s additionally elevated skepticism round Trump’s pre-election push for a vaccine.
A brand new ballot this week discovered 62% of People consider the FDA would cave to stress from Trump and push via a Covid-19 vaccine earlier than making certain it’s protected and efficient, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Even Trump’s announcement as we speak of $13 billion for Puerto Rico to assist rebuild from Hurricane Maria, which hit the island three years in the past, raised suspicion about its proximity to Election Day. In his announcement of the help, the President didn’t acknowledge his administration’s bungled response to the lethal hurricane, as an alternative blaming previous presidential administrations and Democrats for not supplying the funding his administration supplied.
Trump’s relationship with Puerto Rico has been strained, at finest. The President reportedly thought-about promoting the island territory after the hurricane hit. In the meantime, Florida, a vital swing state the place latest polls present Trump and Biden neck and neck, has seen an influx of Puerto Ricans who resettled there after the hurricane decimated the island.
Trump defended the transfer, telling reporters on Friday, “I am the perfect factor that ever occurred to Puerto Rico.”
The Level: From a vaccine timeline to funding for Puerto Rico, Trump is stepping up his administration’s overtures for assist.
