President Donald Trump said during a Fox News town hall on Sunday night that he was “confident” the US would have a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year, despite estimates from health experts that it could be 12 to 18 months before one is readily available to the public.

“We are very confident that we’ll have a vaccine by the end of the year. We think we are going to have a vaccine by the end of this year. We’re pushing very hard”, - said Trump.

He added that companies like Johnson & Johnson, one of more than 70 firms around the world working to develop a coronavirus vaccine, were getting close to having a vaccine ready for public use.