‘A Long Shot’: Medical Professor on Fox News Warns Trump’s Prediction of Vaccine By End of Year May Be Optimistic

Dr. Ashish Jha, global health professor and director of the Harvard Global Health Institute, said on Fox News Monday it would be great if President Donald Trump was right about the U.S. hopefully having a vaccine by the end of the year, but it’s not likely.

Jha — who recently had some tough words for the CDC amid the ongoing pandemic — sat down with Bill Hemmer, who brought up these comments from POTUS during Sunday night’s town hall:

“I think we’re going to have a vaccine by the end of the year. The doctors would say you shouldn’t say that. I’ll say what I think. I’ve met with the heads of the big companies, these are great companies. I think were going to have a vaccine much sooner rather than later.”

Hemmer asked if it’s possible to have a vaccine by the end of the year.

“That would be great, and I think we’re all going to hope. I think it’s going to be a long shot to get it by the end of this year. By 2021, sometime, hopefully earlier on would be great,” Jha said. “It’s really optimistic to think we can get it by January.”

He said that while it can be fast-tracked, “We just have to plan for the possibility that it may take a little while, because we’ve never done this before.”

Jha made a point of telling Hemmer, “I don’t mean to be the downer on this, I’m the enthusiast. I just don’t want to overpromise and underdeliver. It would be much better if we hope for January, but planned for June or September of 2021. And if we get surprised, it’d be awesome.”

You can watch above, via Fox News.