Trump says there's no question the coronavirus 'will go away'
- President Donald Trump on Wednesday maintained that the coronavirus is "going away" and continued to push for schools to reopen since the virus "doesn't have much of an impact" on children.
- Trump applauded the country's coronavirus vaccine and therapeutic development, saying it has had "tremendous success" and is "ready to deliver them literally as soon" as they're approved.
- When it comes to the coronavirus, he said children are able to "throw it off very easily."
President Donald Trump reiterated Wednesday that the coronavirus will "go away," and he continued to push for schools to reopen since the virus "doesn't have much of an impact" on children.
"It's going away. It'll go away. Things go away. No question in my mind that it will go away," Trump said during a White House press briefing.
Trump applauded the country's coronavirus vaccine and therapeutic development, saying it has had "tremendous success" and is "ready to deliver them literally as soon" as they're approved.
Earlier in the day, Johnson and Johnson announced the U.S. will buy 100 million doses of its potential vaccine, joining a handful of other companies that have struck similar deals with the federal government.
"We think we're going to have the vaccines before the end of the year, maybe long before the end of the year," Trump said.
The president also continued to push for schools to reopen this fall, saying that he believes most of them will. When it comes to the coronavirus, he said children are able to "throw it off very easily."
"They may get it, but they get it and it doesn't have much of an impact on them," he said. "For whatever reason the China virus, children handle it very well."
Trump's comments Wednesday evening come after he told Fox News earlier in the day that virus would "go away like things go away" and made claims that children are "virtually immune" to Covid-19. Facebook later removed a video post on the president's personal page of the Fox News segment, saying it violated its policies around Covid-19 misinformation, NBC News reported.
"This video includes false claims that a group of people is immune from COVID-19 which is a violation of our policies around harmful COVID misinformation," Andy Stone, a Facebook policy spokesperson, said.
White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said Friday the coronavirus is so contagious it won't likely ever completely go away.
"I do not believe it would disappear because it's such a highly transmissible virus," Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testified before the House Select Subcommittee.
World Health Organization officials also warned Monday there may never be a magical cure for the coronavirus even as scientists and drugmakers across the globe race to find a safe and effective vaccine.
While experts do agree that children are less likely to fall seriously ill from the coronavirus, studies have shown that children over 9 years old can spread the coronavirus as well as adults.
White House coronavirus advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci has said that while school districts should try their best to return students to school in the fall, the main consideration should be the health and safety of the students, teachers and their families.
Infectious disease experts have warned against returning kids to school where the coronavirus is spreading uncontrollably. Many large school districts have already opted to begin the fall school year online.