WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said his administration is willing to work with anybody, including China, if they are the first to produce a successful COVID-19 vaccine.
"We are willing to work with anybody that's going to get us a good result," Trump said on Tuesday when asked whether he would be ready to work with China if it were first to develop a vaccine.
Trump noted that progress is being made in the United States regarding COVID-19 therapeutics and vaccine development.
"We're doing very well with vaccine development and therapeutic development," he said.
Trump also said a potential vaccine is going to arrive much sooner than expected and become available immediately as the US military will assist in distributing it.
The novel coronavirus pandemic started in China last December in the city of Wuhan in Hubei Province. The United States has criticized China for initially hiding the extent of the spread of the virus. Trump has claimed that China's influence in the World Health Organization allowed the novel coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan to morph into a global pandemic when the disease should have been contained within China.