Stephen Moore says that the coronavirus vaccine will set up a 'blockbuster' economy in 2021

• Conservative economist Stephen Moore predicted on Sunday that the COVID-19 vaccine will be an enormous boost for the economy in 2021.
• During an interview with businessman John Catsimatidis, Moore said that "the calvary is coming" in describing the vaccine, which began rolling out across the US last week.
• Moore praised Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration's medical push to combat the coronavirus, calling it "the greatest government initiative that I've seen in my lifetime."

Conservative economist Stephen Moore predicted on Sunday that the COVID-19 vaccine will be a huge boost for the economy in 2021.

During an interview with businessman John Catsimatidis on his WABC 770 AM radio show, Moore, a longtime ally of President Donald Trump, said "the calvary is coming" in describing the vaccine, which began rolling out across the US last week.

Moore said that the vaccine distribution will create the foundation for a "blockbuster 2021," with the Federal Reserve expecting gross domestic product growth at 4.2% next year. The Federal Reserve also forecasts the 2021 unemployment rate at 5%, down from the current 6.7% national jobless rate.

In 2020, millions of Americans were financially affected by the coronavirus pandemic, with layoffs and staff reductions sending the unemployment rate soaring earlier this year, which peaked at 14.7% unemployment in April.

As the country is set to endure a difficult winter amidst the gargantuan vaccine rollout, the Department of Labor recently reported 885,000 jobs lost during the second week in December, an increase of 23,000 job losses from the prior week, reflecting the still-present obstacles to a broad economic recovery.

After its emergency use authorization was approved, the Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine was administered to the first set of healthcare workers outside of the trial process.

Government leaders including Vice President Mike Pence, Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California, GOP Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, and Surgeon General Jerome Adams have all received their first dose of the vaccine.

Moore praised Operation Warp Speed, the Trump administration's medical push to combat the coronavirus, despite the president's history of downplaying the virus.

He called the effort "the greatest government initiative that I've seen in my lifetime."

He added: "Nobody thought it was possible to do within the year. And, lo and behold ... Donald Trump has done it."

While the start of the vaccine distribution has given hope to millions of Americans, it is a huge undertaking and will take months to reach the general population in large numbers.

General Gustave Perna, the chief operating officer of Operation Warp Speed, apologized on Saturday for a "planning error" with the vaccine distribution. While 20 million doses are set to be allocated to states by the end of the month, the distribution of those initial doses will extend into early January 2021.