Joy Behar declared Wednesday that she won’t take a coronavirus vaccine until after Ivanka Trump, the president’s daughter and senior White House adviser, takes it.
“The View” co-host noted that most vaccines, including one she took for mumps, take years to safely develop, warning that officials should not rush to approve one for COVID-19 before it is ready.
“As far as the vaccine is concerned, I’d like to inform America — in case we don’t know this because I looked all this up for you — the mumps vaccine took four years, the polio vaccine took 20 years, and the smallpox vaccine took a few centuries,” Behar said on ABC on Wednesday morning.
“It was developed initially in 1796, when they started to think about it, and it became useful in the 1950s. OK?” she added of the smallpox vaccine. “It is not a simple thing to do.”
“He will push anything to get reelected,” she added later, referring to President Trump. “Don’t fall for it, and by the way, I will take the vaccine after Ivanka takes it.”
At a rally in North Carolina on Tuesday night, Trump said a coronavirus vaccine could be available before the end of the year.
“Under Operation Warp Speed, we’re producing a vaccine in record time. This is a vaccine that we’re going to have very soon, very, very soon. By the end of the year, but much sooner than that perhaps,” he said.
The president’s rhetoric comes as a phase three trial from AstraZeneca was paused Tuesday to investigate a “potentially unexplained illness” in one of the participants, according to the company.
“As part of the ongoing randomised, controlled global trials of the Oxford coronavirus vaccine, our standard review process triggered a pause to vaccination to allow review of safety data,” AstraZeneca said in a statement. “This is a routine action which has to happen whenever there is a potentially unexplained illness in one of the trials, while it is investigated, ensuring we maintain the integrity of the trials.”
“We are working to expedite the review of the single event to minimise any potential impact on the trial timeline,” the company added.
Two other U.S. companies, Pfizer and Moderna, are also working on potential vaccines.