During a Wednesday news conference, Trump told reporters that CDC Director Robert Redfield was “confused” and that he had made a “mistake” when he said during his testimony that a vaccine likely wouldn't be widely available to the public until the summer of 2021. Trump then claimed that “under no circumstance” would a vaccine take so long, noting that a drug could instead be ready by as soon as mid-October, with distribution starting “immediately.”
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said on Thursday that Redfield was not among “those closest to the process” of planning the development and distribution of a vaccine, The Hill reported. That seems like the sort of thing in which the CDC director ought to be deeply involved.