Trump says safety checks for coronavirus vaccine will cost lives

President Trump has attacked a plan to impose tough new standards on approval of a coronavirus vaccine, saying it “sounds like a political move”. Mr Trump, who has repeatedly raised hopes that a vaccine might be approved before election day on November 3, said he had “tremendous trust in these massive companies” developing vaccines, and said they were best-placed to decide when they were ready, rather than regulators. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is introducing higher hurdles than usual for emergency authorisation of a vaccine, which would allow it to be released to the public rapidly.