Fact check: COVID-19 vaccine won’t be ready in weeks, nor mandatory – USA TODAY

Harris says she would absolutely take a vaccine if it was recommended by public health professionals, but not if only President Trump says to. USA TODAY

The global effort to develop a COVID-19 vaccine has been apriority since the coronavirus pandemic started. Seven months into the U.S. outbreak,vaccine candidatesare facing skepticismby some in the general public and various elected officials.

Leading health officials, such as Dr. Anthony Fauci, have maintained that a vaccine likely won't be widely available until mid-2021. Meanwhile, President Donald Trump haspromiseda vaccine before Election Day, prompting the Democratic vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris to accuse Trump of politicizingthe vaccineand to question its safety, noting that she would take it only if the health experts said it was safe.

The effectiveness and safety of a COVID-19vaccine is not the only thing people are worried about. Vaccine conspiracy theories that originated in anti-vaxxer communitieshave thrived anew in the COVID-19 era, including claims that the vaccine wouldimplant microchipsor that it will be mandatory for every American.

Apost from from Before It's News, a website that allows anyone to contribute,which was shared 38,00 times as of Oct. 15furthers the conspiracy theory of a mandatory vaccine, witha headline reading, "The Government Has Released Their Initial Plans to Force a Vaccine on Everyone."

The postalso says, "Three potential vaccines are currently in Stage 3 trials in the United States and could be ready in weeks," citing Trump.

USA TODAY reached out to the site's Facebook page for comment.

We'll look at thetwo claims here:Will a vaccine be mandatory? And, what does the development and distributiontimeline really look like?

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the general cycle for the development of a new vaccine has six stages:exploratory stage, pre-clinical stage, clinical development, regulatory review and approval, manufacturing and quality control.

The global prioritization of finding a COVID-19vaccine has shortened the timeline of its development, which for a regular vaccinewould usually take years. However, vaccine developers and institutions like the CDCare following existing protocols to ensure the vaccine's safety and effectiveness.

As of Oct. 15, according to the World Health Organization,42 vaccine candidates are in clinical evaluations and 156are in preclinical evaluations.

16-year-old Katelyn Evans gets the first of two shots as part of a trial testing Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine in minors.(Photo: Cincinnati Children's Hospital)

The postfrom Before It's News cites a Sept. 15 commentfrom Trump where he saida vaccine could be ready in a "matter of weeks."On Oct. 5, Trump said vaccines would be ready "momentarily."However, scientists disagree.

On Sept. 16, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the CDC, said that while an effective vaccine could be developed before the end of this year, it won't be available to the general public until the second or third quarter of 2021.

Speculation about mandatory vaccinations for COVID-19 started spreading on social media from the moment scientists began talksabout developing a vaccine.

There is no evidence to support the claim that a COVID-19 vaccine will be mandatory for the entire population.

The post in question cites a COVID-19 vaccineinterim playbook from the CDC, which was created in partnership with theU.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the U.S. Department of Defense.The postmisinterprets and misrepresents the content of the playbook, whichdoes not state that everyone will be required to get a COVID-19 vaccine.

The playbook lays out the plan to effectively distribute the vaccine first to healthand essential workers andvulnerable groups before increasing accessto the general public.

At an August town hall hosted by Healthline, Fauci said the coronavirus vaccine won't be mandatory in the United States, adding that people have a right to refuse it.

I dont think youll ever see a mandating of vaccine, particularly for the general public," Fauci said.

Fauci also said some industries may mandate the vaccine for employees, such ashow the National Institutes of Healthmandates the flu vaccine for its workers. That also is in the playbook.

According to the CDC, "State laws establish vaccination requirements for school children ... . All states provide medical exemptions, and some state laws also offer exemptions for religious and/or philosophical reasons."

Additionally, the U.S. OccupationalSafety and Health Administration took the position that employers canrequire staff to take vaccines, like the flu vaccination.

In general, employers can mandate vaccines for their staff.However, according to the National Law Review,this practice does have limitations and is not always recommended.

Like the exemptions that exist for school vaccine requirements, similar exemptions can also be appliedto workerswho have a reasonablebelief that a medicalconditionmay result inillness or death, according to OSHA.

If someone refuses the vaccine in the general public, then theres nothing you can do about that, Faucisaid. You cannot force someone to take a vaccine.

The claims in the post have been rated FALSE. The claim that a vaccine will be ready within weeks, while stated by the president, has been consistently contradicted by public health officials who say a vaccine likely won't be ready by Election Day, nor would it be available to the general public before the middle of 2021. There is alsono evidence to support the claim that the coronavirus vaccine will be mandatory for the general public.

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Our fact check work is supported in part by a grant from Facebook.

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Fact check: COVID-19 vaccine won't be ready in weeks, nor mandatory - USA TODAY