WASHINGTON, May 14 (Xinhua) -- Rick Bright, a U.S. health official recently ousted from a post key to developing vaccines, on Thursday called a timeline of 12 to 18 months for the creation of a vaccine against the coronavirus "an aggressive schedule."

"A lot of optimism is swirling around a 12- to 18-month time frame," Bright told a group of U.S. lawmakers in a hearing. "If everything goes perfectly - we've never seen everything go perfectly."

"My concern is if we rush too quickly and consider cutting out critical steps, we may not have a full assessment of the safety of that vaccine, so it's still going to take some time," he added.

The hearing came after Bright filed a whistleblower complaint last week alleging he was removed in April as director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) for opposing the broad use of a drug frequently touted by the White House as a coronavirus treatment. Enditem

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