White House denies Trump endorsed 'herd immunity' and predicts Covid vaccine will be ready this year

The White House on Wednesday denied Donald Trump endorsed the controversial “herd immunity” concept as a way out of the coronavirus pandemic and that he shunned mask-wearing despite his own words during a town hall with undecided voters the previous night.

White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany jousted with reporters during a combative briefing, saying the notion that Mr Trump or his advisers supported the notion of most Americans contracting the respiratory disease and becoming immune – even if hundreds of thousands more die – was merely something “cooked up” by the media.

“Herd immunity has never been a strategy here at the White House. President was noting herd immunity [develops] over a period of time,” she said.

Here is what Mr Trump said on Tuesday night at the Philadelphia town hall: “Sure, over a period of time. Sure, with time it goes away. And you'll develop – you'll develop herd – like a herd mentality. It's going to be – it's going to be herd-developed, and that's going to happen. That will all happen. But with a vaccine, I think it will go away very quickly.”

“That’s not Dr Atlas’ view. He’s never proposed herd immunity as a strategy, and neither has the president,” the White House press secretary told a reporter.

In one sharp exchange, Ms McEnany accused a reporter, and most media outlets, of “selective editing of the president’s comments." She appeared, in this case, to have a point. One television reporter asked why the president seemed to discourage mask-wearing. His spokeswoman said he did not, but instead was noting improper usage can lead to “unintended consequences.” Ms McEnany, however did ignore Mr Trump’s ho-hum attitude towards people covering their faces, including reporters and others at official events he has invited to remove their face coverings. 

“Now there is, by the way, a lot of people don't want to wear masks. There are a lot of people think that masks are not good,” Mr Trump said on Tuesday night. 

"I'll tell you who those people are: waiters. They come over and they serve you, and they have a mask. And I saw it the other day where they were serving me, and they're playing with the mask – I'm not blaming them – I'm just saying what happens," Mr Trump said. “They're playing with the mask, so the mask is over, and they're touching it, and then they're touching the plate. ”

“That can't be good,” the president concluded.

What’s more, Ms McEnany again said the White House hopes to deploy a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year. She said several major US drug manufacturers are under contract to be producing the drugs by 2020’s end.

That contradicts comments made earlier in the day on Capitol Hill by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Robert Redfield. He told lawmakers widespread deployment might take until the second quarter of next year.

“We’re still of the belief we’ll have a vaccine by the end of the year,” she said. “We do think … widely available by the end of the year.”