US President Donald Trump said at a town hall event hosted by a news agency on Tuesday that a vaccine against the novel coronavirus could be ready in three to four weeks.

Trump's reckless statement has raised concerns among public health authorities who claim that the White House is putting the FDA under pressure to approve a vaccine by November, before the onset of the presidential elections in the first week of the month. Drug companies that are involved in the development of vaccines have mentioned in a joint statement that they would not put forward a vaccine until it had been thoroughly vetted for safety and efficacy. Contradicting their stance in the issue, Trump said during the event, "The previous administration would have taken perhaps years to have a vaccine, because of the FDA and all the approvals. We're within weeks of getting it. You know, could be three weeks, four weeks." Dr Anthony Fauci, a top US government infectious diseases doctor, has repeatedly mentioned that he expected a vaccine to be ready only by early next year. "So contrary to all of the lies, the vaccine that they've politicised - they'll say anything and it's so dangerous - but the vaccine will be very safe and very effective and it'll be delivered very soon," Trump said last week as well.

His reassurance was given after Democratic vice-presidential nominee Kamala Harris said that she would not trust Trump with the coronavirus vaccine. "I will say that I would not trust Donald Trump and it would have to be a credible source of information that talks about the efficacy and the reliability of whatever he's talking about. I will not take his word for it," Kamala Harris said.