This estimation comes from the presumption that the White House will approve vaccines which will help US President Donald Trump secure his reelection.
Scientists and medical experts, on the other hand, are expecting a vaccine by early 2021 at the earliest, though several medical companies are already at the human testing stage, and new trials are moving forward with unprecedented speed. Some companies are promising supplies of their experimental vaccines before the year ends.
“All the datapoints we’ve collected make me think we’re going to get a vaccine prior to the election,” Jared Holz, a healthcare strategist with Jefferies, told Bloomberg. The current administration is “incredibly incentivized to approve at least one of these vaccines before Nov. 3.”
“The Trump White House is putting tremendous pressure on the FDA to approve an emergency use authorization (EUA) for a vaccine prior to the election,” Raymond James policy analysts wrote.
The economic benefits of such an early vaccine have also been discussed as it will allow for businesses to open much more easily, with a clear economic benefit to the companies which develop the vaccines.
There has been some concern about the nature of these expedited vaccines. FluGen President and CEO Paul Radspinner stated that there is immense pressure to not only get the vaccine right but also to expedite its manufacturing process, the two goals working against each other.