Trump contradicts his CDC director over masks, vaccine timeline
Robert Redfield told the Senate Appropriations Committee that wearing a mask could be more effective than a vaccine at keeping the pandemic at bay.
President Donald Trump on Wednesday twice contradicted his own CDC director — on mask-wearing and vaccine distribution — saying the country’s top public health official misspoke while testifying under oath before a congressional committee earlier in the day.
Robert Redfield told the Senate Appropriations Committee that wearing a mask could be more effective than a coronavirus vaccine at keeping the pandemic at bay. “If I don’t get an immune response [from a Covid-19] vaccine it’s not going to protect me. This face mask will,” he said. Redfield later tweeted a similar message — after the president insisted that his top public health official was mistaken and “confused.”
The exchange is only the latest example of the president publicly discrediting or pressuring his own appointees and government scientists at the major federal health agencies on the coronavirus pandemic response — on testing, treatments, a vaccine timeline, even the severity of the threat from the virus itself. It comes as Trump resumes holding large indoor campaign rallies and largely avoiding wearing a face mask. Redfield has said the president should embrace face coverings to set an example for the public, though Trump on Wednesday again questioned their effectiveness.
Trump at a White House briefing late Wednesday said Redfield was wrong and that he had called him to discuss it. “No, the mask is not as important as the vaccine,” Trump said. “He made a mistake.”
Redfield soon after tweeted that a “Covid-19 vaccine is the thing that will get Americans back to normal everyday life,” but that masks are still the best current defense against the virus, along with hand hygiene, social distancing and avoiding crowds.
Trump also took issue with Redfield’s telling Congress that most Americans wouldn’t have access to a coronavirus until next summer or fall. “It’s just incorrect information,” said Trump, who keeps promising that a vaccine will be ready soon, perhaps even before the election. “When he said it, I believe he was confused. ... It’s going to be a much faster distribution process.”
Trump told reporters that once the FDA approves a vaccine, his administration plans to distribute as many as 100 million doses by the end of the year, with health care workers and vulnerable populations getting prioritized. He added that the broader public would have access to the vaccine shortly after. Most of the vaccines in development — which are still being tested and may not work — would require two doses per person.
Scott Atlas, a neuroradiologist who advises the president on the coronavirus, told reporters at the briefing that the administration estimates roughly 700 million vaccines could be distributed to the public by the end of March, offering a more optimistic timeline than Redfield.