Trump Touts Success of Operation Warp Speed 'Saving 100 Million Lives' From COVID-19

The ex-president drew parallels with the Spanish flu pandemic, which claimed between 17 and 100 million lives, according to various estimates, or up to 5% of the global population at the time.

Former US President Donald Trump has in an interview with Fox News touted the success of Operation Warp Speed, which he launched in 2020 to facilitate the speedy development, production, and distribution of a vaccine against COVID-19.  He argued that were it not for the operation, far more people would have died from the pandemic since vaccination effectively protects a person from severe symptoms of COVID-19.

“I think if we didn’t come up during the Trump administration with the vaccine, you could have 100 million people dead, just like you had in 1917. You take the Spanish Flu, 100 million people, up to 100 million people, died. I think we’d be in that territory [if not for vaccination]", the ex-POTUS said.

Trump added that he was "very proud" of the efforts he undertook to have Americans jabbed against the coronavirus, and noted that "the vaccines turn[ed] out to be a tremendous thing". At the same time, the ex-POTUS spoke against the introduction of mandatory vaccination, calling it a matter of "somebody’s choice, somebody’s freedom".

The former president also spoke in favour of the speedy re-opening of all schools, arguing that prolonged distance education might negatively affect the younger generations.

"The schools have to open. These young people are losing a big part of their life and they’re not going to recover from it. What they’re going through socially, I mean, they are not dealing with people […] It’s going to leave a scar on their lives. It’s going to leave a psychological scar", Trump said.

The 100 million dead Trump was referring to when speaking about vaccines is the highest estimate of deaths caused by the Spanish flu pandemic – possibly the deadliest in human history. Other estimates put the number at 17 million, which is still more than the 4.2 million claimed by COVID-19 as of 7 August. The number of potential COVID-19 fatalities brought up by Trump also accounts for a little less than 1/3 of the US' total population, which had reached 331.5 million by 2020.

A total of 616,000 Americans had died of COVID-19 by 7 August. At the same time, 166.2 million or 50% of US citizens have been fully vaccinated, gaining effective protection from the virus. As a part of the Operation Warp Speed programme, Trump's administration ordered 400 million doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines, which would be enough to jab 200 million Americans.