Vice President Mike Pence came to the University of Miami’s Miller School of Medicine on Monday, announcing the school's participation in Phase 3 trials in the development of a coronavirus vaccine.
“Today is a day of hope, today is a day of promise, today is a tribute to American ingenuity,” Pence said.
Pence said the United States is not waiting until the end of clinical trials to create the vaccines.
“We’re actually having these companies produce the vaccines as we speak and as soon as they’re confirmed to be safe and effective, we’ll have tens of millions of doses able to distribute across the country,” he said.
Researchers at UM are enrolling 1,000 people in the next round of clinical trials. It is one of 89 sites across the country participating in trials of a vaccine co-developed by Moderna and the National Institutes of Health. About 30,000 people are expected to participate in the clinical trials in the coming months.
Pence credited President Donald Trump for the quick progress.
In a statement, the Florida Democratic Party said the president's and Gov. Ron DeSantis’ response has “left Florida as the global coronavirus hotspot.”
The News Service of Florida contributed to this report.
