Trump 'very confident' there will be a COVID-19 vaccine by end of 2020
President Trump says the White House is pushing very hard to get a vaccine produced quickly and to make remdesivir more available as a treatment during a Fox News town hall.
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Fox News’ "America Together” town hall with President Trump attracted more viewers than MSNBC and CNN combined on Sunday night, according to early Nielsen ratings.
Fox News averaged 3.8 million viewers from 7-9 p.m. ET while Trump answered questions from the Lincoln Memorial, while CNN and MSNBC combined to average 1.8 million during the same time period.
CNN averaged 1.2 million viewers from 7-9 p.m. ET and MSNBC managed only 678,000 viewers. Fox News also dominated the key news demographic of adults age 25-54, averaging 637,000 viewers in that range compared to 399,000 for CNN and MSNBC, again, combined.
"America Together: Returning to Work,” moderated by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, featured video questions submitted by viewers on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Trump made news during the Fox News town hall by predicting that a coronavirus vaccine could be available by December.
"I think we'll have a vaccine by the end of the year," Trump told Baier and MacCallum.
President Donald Trump speaks during a Fox News virtual town hall from the Lincoln Memorial, Sunday, May 3, 2020, in Washington, co-moderated by FOX News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
Asked by MacCallum if he was concerned about the potential risks of accelerating a vaccine and human trials, Trump responded: "No, because they're volunteers. They know what they're getting into... they want to help the process."
That timeline was dramatically ahead of previous estimates from both public and private sector experts at the outset of the pandemic, which had said a vaccine could take up to 18 months, if not longer. But, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said this weekend it was "doable if things fall in the right place" to have a vaccine by January.
Trump also predicted that the U.S. would be self-reliant on antibiotics, without needing to rely on China, within two years. Republicans have said it's "crazy" that America is reliant on China, a communist adversary, for critical supplies including antibiotics.
Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin and Vice President Mike Pence joined Trump later, and the three emphasized that a payroll tax cut would be a necessary part of any future stimulus.
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Mnuchin made clear that the White House was looking to "help states," but not "bail out" any financial mismanagement.
Fox News recently finished April with its most-watched monthly primetime audience in the network’s history, averaging a staggering 3.7 million viewers as Americans tuned in for the latest information on the coronavirus pandemic.
Fox News averaged 2.2 million total day viewers, the second most-watched month in the network’s history in that category, behind only April 2003 during coverage of the Iraq War. It was the 46th consecutive month that Fox News finished on top all of basic cable.
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FNC has topped both MSNBC and CNN as the top-rated cable news network among total viewers for 220 consecutive months.
Fox News’ virtual town hall with Trump on March 24 remains the most-watched town hall in cable news history with 4.4 million viewers.
Fox News’ Gregg Re contributed to this report.
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