Shivalik
On Friday, US President Donald Trump said that the United States was working with India on developing a vaccine against the deadly COVID-19, labelling Indian-Americans as “great” scientists and researchers.
While talking to reporters, Trump said that he was hopeful a coronavirus vaccine would be available by the end of the year, or possibly sooner and said that he would appoint a former head of vaccines at GlaxoSmithKline to head the effort as drugmakers race to create a vaccine.
“I just got back a short while ago from India recently and we are working very much with India and we have a tremendous Indian population in the US and many of the people that you are talking about are working on the vaccine too. Great scientist and researchers,” he told reporters at the White House.
“Yes. We are working very closely also with India,” Trump said responding to a question.
He called Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a “very good friend” of him.
“India has been so great and as you know your Prime Minister has been a very good friend of mine,” Trump said and later on Twitter announced to donate ventilators to India.
“I am proud to announce that the United States will donate ventilators to our friends in India,” he tweeted.
"We stand with India” and Prime Minister Modi during this pandemic, he said.
“We’re also cooperating on vaccine development. Together we will beat the invisible enemy!” Trump said.
The highly infectious virus that first originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan last December has so far infected more than 4.4 million people worldwide. The pandemic has sent the global economy into a downward spiral with many countries calling for full or partial lockdown.
