Trump says caution over coronavirus vaccine is 'fake political rhetoric'

President falsely claims he has not suggested vaccine could be ready by Election Day after accusing rivals of politicising scrutiny over production

Donald Trump has accused Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris of using “reckless anti-vaccine rhetoric” after she echoed concerns from medical experts and public health officials about the efficacy and reliability of a coronavirus vaccine that the president has promised as soon as Election Day.

He said the California senator relied on “fake rhetoric” for political reasons while he promised during a White House press conference on Labour Day that the US could see a Covid-19 vaccine “maybe before a special date, and you know what date I’m talking about.”

The president denied that he has repeatedly assured that a vaccine would be on the market on or before 3 November.

“I said before the end of the year,” he falsely claimed, moments later. “I’m saying that because we want to save a lot of lives. With me it’s the faster the better.”

Senator Harris, Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden’s running mate, doubted the administration’s trustworthiness following fears that the president would expedite untested vaccine production before Election Day, a timeline that medical experts have largely said is unrealistic.

She also told CNN that concerns among health officials in the administration will be "muzzled, they'll be suppressed, they will be sidelined".

“He's looking at an election coming up in less than 60 days and he's grasping for whatever he can get to pretend that he has been a leader on this issue when he is not,” she said.

On a campaign trip to Pennsylvania, Mr Biden said: “I'm worried if we do have a really good vaccine people are going to be reluctant to take it. And so he is undermining public confidence. But pray God we have it. If I could get a vaccine tomorrow, I'd do it. If it cost me the election, I'd do it.”

Nearly 190,000 Americans have died from Covid-19-related illness, far more than any other country, since the onset of an outbreak that has infected more than 6.2m people in the US, according to Johns Hopkins University.

Several pharmaceutical companies are producing vaccines under the president’s “Operation Warp Speed” programme, which aims to produce up to 300m doses by January 2021, though the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has alerted states to prepare for distribution as early as October.

The president has also suggested that his own Food and Drug Administration, under a chief he appointed, has enjoined a “deep state” conspiracy to slow production of a vaccine to weaken his re-election chances.

"Obviously, they are hoping to delay the answer until after November 3rd. Must focus on speed, and saving lives!" the president posted to Twitter in August in a message that tagged FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn.

Moncef Slaoui, who leads the administration’s vaccine development programme, told NPR last week that there was a "very low chance" that a vaccine  would be available in October.

Mr Slaoui and the head of the FDA's Centre for Biologics Evaluation and Research announced they would resign from their posts if the administration rushed an unproven drug to market.

Moderna and Pfizer are currently in their third and final vaccine trials. Last week, AstraZeneca began Phase 3 of  its trials with a goal to enroll 30,000 people within the next eight weeks.