Trump says US could have Covid-19 vaccine by October


Nicky Harley
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US President Donald Trump claims America could have a coronavirus vaccine by October.

On Monday, Mr Trump said the US would have this "wonderful vaccine" very soon.

"We will end the pandemic under Operation Warp Speed," he said.

"We have pioneered ground-breaking therapies and reduced the fatality rate by 85 per cent since April. Under my leadership, we will produce a vaccine in record time.

"Joe Biden and his new liberal running mate will destroy this country and would destroy the economy, and should immediately apologise for their anti-vaccine rhetoric that they are talking right now.

"This vaccine could have taken two to three years but instead it is going to be done in a very short period of time, and we could even have it during the month of October.

"The vaccine will be very safe and very effective. The people of the world will be very happy."

Mr Trump also touched on the fallout the US has had with the World Health Organisation, saying the UN agency had become "much better ... much nicer" to the US.

He later raised the idea of separating the US and Chinese economies, suggesting the US would not lose money if the two countries no longer did business.

"So when you mention the word decouple, it's an interesting word," he said.

"We lose billions of dollars and if we didn't do business with them we wouldn't lose billions of dollars. It's called decoupling, so you'll start thinking about it."

Abdul Jabar Qahraman was meeting supporters in his campaign office in the southern Afghan province of Helmand when a bomb hidden under a sofa exploded on Wednesday.

The blast in the provincial capital Lashkar Gah killed the Afghan election candidate and at least another three people, Interior Minister Wais Ahmad Barmak told reporters. Another three were wounded, while three suspects were detained, he said.

The Taliban – which controls much of Helmand and has vowed to disrupt the October 20 parliamentary elections – claimed responsibility for the attack.

Mr Qahraman was at least the 10th candidate killed so far during the campaign season, and the second from Lashkar Gah this month. Another candidate, Saleh Mohammad Asikzai, was among eight people killed in a suicide attack last week. Most of the slain candidates were murdered in targeted assassinations, including Avtar Singh Khalsa, the first Afghan Sikh to run for the lower house of the parliament.

The same week the Taliban warned candidates to withdraw from the elections. On Wednesday the group issued fresh warnings, calling on educational workers to stop schools from being used as polling centres.