Trump to deliver first public remarks in over a week on vaccines

President Trump will deliver his first public remarks in more than a week when he provides an update on coronavirus vaccine development on Friday afternoon.

The White House issued an updated schedule noting that Trump will brief the public on the recent work of Operation Warp Speed, the federal government’s program to accelerate the production of a vaccine. Trump is slated to deliver remarks from the Rose Garden.

Trump has been remarkably absent from public engagements since Joe Biden was declared the winner of the presidential election on Saturday. The president’s only public outing this week has been a brief appearance at a Veterans Day observance ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery on Wednesday, at which he did not give public remarks.

Aside from his Twitter feed, Trump has not spoken publicly since last Thursday, when he held a news conference in the White House briefing room and claimed without evidence that the election was being stolen from him.

Friday’s event is likely to focus on positive news this week that Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine was found to be more than 90 percent effective in late-stage clinical trials. Pfizer made the announcement on Monday.

Trump has consistently touted the federal government’s work to bring a quick vaccine to the American public as a hallmark of success in his response to the pandemic. Trump has been widely criticized for his handling of the coronavirus and in particular his rhetoric and behavior minimizing the threat it poses to the public.

The event will allow Trump to seize on a positive storyline in the wake of his defeat in the election. Trump has thus far refused to concede to Biden and instead challenges the election results in court.