Trump accuses Democrats of criticizing coronavirus vaccine for political purposes

President Trump on Sunday night said his Democratic opponents have been criticizing the speedy timeframe of a potential US coronavirus vaccine as a political move to harm him before the election.

“They want to denigrate it,” the president said in a Fox News interview that aired Sunday night explaining the reaction from Democrats and some media outlets over a pending vaccine.

“This started about three weeks ago, because they started hearing rumors that we’re going to have this vaccine in super record time,” Trump told host Mark Levin.

Trump said the Democrats are claiming the vaccine “is coming out too soon” and are questioning its safety simply because they’re afraid the president will get credit ahead of the election.

“What they’re doing is trying to make it like ‘ah that’s not such a great deal.’ When actually, it’s one of the greatest things that anyone’s done,” Trump told Levin. “And I’m not saying me. I’m saying anyone. It’s so incredible, it’s so important.”

The president on Sunday night said that under a different administration a coronavirus vaccine would take up to three years “because of the FDA process.”

But Trump credited his administration with helping to achieve “record time” in vaccine development.

“I have totally changed the FDA process. Same safety, but the speed is from a different world,” he told Levin.

Trump added that a coronavirus vaccine is near completion.

The country is “right at the end of the process, really looking good and could be really early,” he said.

Last Friday, Trump said he expected the country would have doses available for “every American” by April.