Trump says U.S. virus death toll could reach 100,000, vaccine ready by December

President Trump said Sunday night the U.S. death toll from the coronavirus could reach between 75,000 and 100,000 but he is confident there will be a vaccine by the end of December.

"I think we'll have a vaccine by the end of the year," Trump told a Fox News town all hosted by Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. "...We'll have a vaccine much sooner rather than later."

Trump's optimism about a vaccine, which experts originally warned could take 18 months, was backed up by his infectious disease specialist Dr. Anthony Fauci, who said this weekend it was "doable" to get a vaccine by January. 

The president's optimism about a long-term cure was tempered by the growing death toll the pandemic has wreaked on America, which will be far larger than the 60,000 estimated last month

“We’re going to lose anywhere from 75,000 80,000 to 100,000 people,” Trump said, but he added without his administration's early efforts "the minimum we would have lost was a million two, a million four, a million five, that’s the minimum."