In New Year's Eve Address, Trump Praises COVID Vaccine Launch

WASHINGTON, DC — President Donald Trump posted a video to Twitter on New Year's Eve, where he congratulated Americans on "showing incredible grit, tenacity and resolve" in 2020, and also congratulated himself and his administration on getting a coronavirus vaccine developed so quickly.

The president also again referred to coronavirus as "the China virus."

"Together we achieved truly historic victories like nobody ever thought possible," he said in his Dec. 31 address, speaking from the White House. "To defeat the China virus we launched the largest mobilization since World War II. We transformed our factories to build tens of thousands of ventilators, millions and millions of masks virtually overnight. Nobody thought it could be done. We ignored the experts who demanded open borders and we shut down travel from China and Europe to protect our citizens and we built the wall. We pioneered new treatments and therapies and we saved millions of American lives."

The U.S. is the worst hit nation in the world by coronavirus, with 19 million confirmed cases and 345,847 deaths as of New Year's Day, 2021, according to Bloomberg. Also, the U.S. is far short of its goal of having 20 million Americans vaccinated by the new year, with 2.8 million Americans vaccinated by Jan. 1, according to the CDC.

The President praised Operation Warp Speed, launched by his administration, for getting a vaccine developed within the year.

"Over and over we were told it would be impossible to deliver a vaccine by the end of the year," said Trump. "All of the experts said absolutely unthinkable; Trump is exaggerating, it can't happen."

"And we did it. Long before the end of the year. They said it would take a medical miracle, and that's exactly what it is. Years from now they'll be talking about it, they'll be talking about this great, great thing we did the vaccines."

It can take up to 10 years to develop a vaccine but Operation Warp Speed dramatically accelerated the process, and a COVID vaccine was developed in nine months. For example, Operation Warp Speed allowed pharmaceutical companies to begin manufacturing the vaccine at large scale before it had been demonstrated effective, and gave pharmaceutical companies access to federal funding that would minimize their financial risk in doing so, according to a fact sheet on Operation Warp Speed from the federal Health & Human Services.

The Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are the only two vaccines to be approved by the FDA so far, but Johnson & Johnson expects its vaccine to be ready for use sometime in January.

However, Pfizer maintains it was never technically part of Operation Warp Speed, as it never took federal money for research & development of its vaccine, and instead invested its own money. Also, the CEO of Pfizer has publicly feuded with Trump, and both the Pfizer and Moderna CEOs declined to appear at a "Vaccine Summit" the White House hoped to host earlier in December.

Moderna, Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca were all given hundreds of millions in federal funding for their vaccine according to Health & Human Services. Pfizer partnered with the federal government to distribute — not develop — their vaccine.

Watch Trump's New Year's Eve address:

Trump was undeterred in his victory lap speech on New Year's Eve. Dec. 31 also marked the date the United Kingdom officially left the European Union.

"We are sending the vaccine all over the world. The world will benefit and everyone is calling to thank me," said Trump in his Dec. 31 address. "By early next year the vaccine will be available to every American and then it will be shipped worldwide. We will end the pandemic once and for all ... We can never let people forget where it came from, and how it came."

Trump also promised the American economy would continue to flourish in 2021.

"Before the pandemic we built the greatest economy in the history of the world, and now we're doing it again ... We actually built two great economies — before and after (the coronavirus)," he said. "Our economy is growing much faster than the nations of Europe. Nobody can compete with us ... Whenever America is challenged we always rise to the occasion."