President Donald Trump claimed a vaccine for the coronavirus will be available by the end of 2020 — contradicting his top health officials

President Donald Trump claimed on Sunday that a vaccine for the coronavirus will be available by the end of 2020 — contradicting his own top health officials and companies developing and testing potential vaccines.

“We think we'll have a vaccine by the end of this year and we're pushing very hard,” he said at a Fox News town hall. “We're building supply lines, we even have the final vaccine.”

He added that several pharmaceutical companies are “close” to developing the vaccine, naming Johnson & Johnson in particular.

All vaccines currently in development are still in the early phases of clinical trials, and Johnson & Johnson has said the soonest its first batch will be available is in 2021. The company has not yet begun human trials, and doesn’t expect to do so until September of this year.

Pfizer and German company BioNTech, though, say they have the potential to supply millions of doses by the end of 2020 if their vaccine candidate shows promising results in clinical trials.

Trump on Sunday said he wasn't concerned about which country develops a vaccine first. "I just want to get a vaccine that works. I really don't care. If it's another country, I'll take my hat off to them," he said.

Trump acknowledged Sunday that his vaccine timeline may go beyond what his own experts have advised, but insisted on his optimistic timeline.

“The doctors would say, well, you shouldn't say that. I'll say what I think,” he said. “I met with the heads of the big companies, these are great companies. I think we're going to have a vaccine much sooner than later.”

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