Defense Secretary Mark Esper said Friday that a coronavirus vaccine could “absolutely” emerge by the end of the year.
The secretary said his department will deliver the vaccine for the pandemic that has infected more than 1.5 million Americans and killed 95,000 as of Friday, according to a Johns Hopkins University tracker.
“Absolutely it’s possible and I’ve spoken to our medical experts about this,” Esper said during a segment on NBC’s “Today.” “We are completely confident that we can get this done.
“Look, the Defense Department has been on top of this coronavirus since the early days,” he said. “We were in this fight from late January on, when we were first bringing Americans back from China. We’ve been ahead of the curve and in the fight from Day One and this is the next phase of the battle, and we will deliver on time the vaccines.”
