WATCH: Trump Applauds AIDS Vaccine, Which Doesn’t Exist, During Speech

President Donald Trump praised the “incredible scientists” working on a coronavirus vaccine for developing “the AIDS vaccine” during a 25-minute speech to update Americans on the fight against coronavirus on June 16.

The speech was part of a press conference Trump held before signing an executive order on police reform from the White House.

Trump said, “Before the end of the year I predict we will have a very successful vaccine, therapeutic, and cure. We’re making tremendous progress. I deal with these incredible scientists, doctors very closely.”

“I have great respect for their minds,” Trump continued. “They have come up with things and they’ve come up with many other cures and therapeutics over the years. These are the people the best, the smartest, the most brilliant anywhere, and they’ve come up with, uh, the AIDS vaccine.”

Of course, there is no AIDS vaccine.

Trump, perhaps realizing his mistake, continued to speak about AIDS treatment. He said, “They’ve come up with- or the AIDs and the- as you know there’s various things and now various companies are involved. But the therapeutic for AIDS, AIDS was a death sentence and now people live a life with a pill. It’s an incredible thing.”

As stated on WebMD, while there are medications to treat HIV, the virus which causes AIDS, that can help fight infections and improve those who suffer from the disease’s quality of life, they’re not a cure. However, the FDA has approved more than two dozen antiretroviral drugs to help treat HIV infections.

Trump Introduced ‘Operation Warp Speed’ to Produce a COVID-19 Vaccine Before the End of the Year

During a White House press briefing last month, Trump unveiled the new federal plan to produce a coronavirus vaccine entitled “Operation Warp Speed.” Trump explained the plan’s name “means big and it means fast,” an initiative that would accelerate the race for a COVID-19 vaccine.

Trump announced that Operation Warp Speed would be “unlike anything our country has seen since the Manhattan Project.” The goal of this initiative is to speed up the development of a proven COVID-19 vaccine, then manufacture and distribute it throughout America as quickly as possible.

“We’d love to see if we could do it prior to the end of the year,” said Trump, who has appointed Moncef Slaoui, the former head of GlaxoSmithKline’s vaccines division, and Gustave Perna, a four-star Army General, to lead Operation Warp Speed. Trump said that once the vaccine once is created, he would utilize the military to help speed up distribution.

Trump Controversially Announced He Took Hydroxychloroquine as a Preventative Against Coronavirus

This isn’t the first time Trump has made controversial statements on medical treatments. During a roundtable discussion with restaurant executives, he declared that he was taking hydroxychloroquine every day as a precaution against coronavirus.

“You’d be surprised at how many people are taking it,” Trump said, “especially the front line workers before you catch it. I happen to be taking it. I am taking it – hydroxychloroquine, right now, yeah. A couple of weeks ago, I started taking it because I think it’s good. I’ve heard a lot of good stories.”

Hearing reporters’ audible surprise followed by an influx of questions about his use of hydroxychloroquine, Trump added, “If it’s not good, I’ll tell you right… I’m not going to get hurt by it. It’s been around for 40 years for lupus, malaria, and a lot of things. A lot of doctors take it. I take it.”

According to the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, two studies showed that the anti-malaria drug “did not increase the likelihood of virus elimination” in patients infected with a mild case of COVID-19, “nor did it have any effect on reducing admissions to intensive care or death in French patients with more severe illness.”

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