Trump Says AstraZeneca's Candidate COVID-19 Vaccine Holds 'Tremendous Promise'

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 22nd May, 2020) The AstraZeneca candidate vaccine for the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is very promising, US President Donald Trump said during a tour of the Ford plant in Ypsilanti, Michigan.

Earlier on Thursday, the US Department of Health and Human Services announced that it is investing $1.2 billion in the candidate vaccine through the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) as part of Trump's Operation Warp Speed.

"I think [the candidate vaccine] holds tremendous promise," Trump said on Thursday, adding that there are number of analogous projects also in advanced stages.

On Thursday, the United Kingdom-based pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca - partnering with Oxford University in leading the British effort to develop a COVID-19 vaccine - said that it had concluded agreements on the mass production of a vaccine against and expects the first deliveries in September.

Last Friday, Trump launched Operation Warp Speed aimed at producing 300 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine by January.