Donald Trump has voiced his hopes for a coronavirus vaccine to be ready by the end of the year in a latest attempt to boost his reelection chances.

The US president made the remarks at a North Carolina Fujifilm plant, where researchers are hard at work on the Novavax company’s vaccine. Trump was spotted wearing a face mask, which he recently declared to be “patriotic”. Recently the president has been changing his tone on the coronavirus pandemic, conceding it will “get worse” before the situation improves.

Trump spoke at the Morrisville research centre to assure voters he’s taking a hands on approach to the US’ bout with COVID-19. While visiting the facility, he claimed that the US is in “very good shape” to develop a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year. He said: “I heard very positive things, but by the end of the year, we think we’re in very good shape to be doing that”.