Experts around the world are working towards a COVID-19 vaccine, but National Security Adviser Robert O'Brien believes the U.S. is "going to get to the vaccine first."
"I think America is going to come out on top on this one," O'Brien said. "We're doing tremendous work on therapies and vaccines and once we get them, we'll share them not only with America, but we'll share them with the world."
On NBC's "Meet the Press," O'Brien said American innovation is moving rapidly towards a vaccine and therapeutics. He also warned of Chinese espionage and said the U.S. government is going to make sure China doesn't steal U.S. research.
Meanwhile, on the same show, Dr. Dan Barouch, the Director of the Center for Virology and Vaccine Research at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, told NBC that the world needs to work together.
He said, "What we need is not one vaccine. The world actually needs multiple vaccines."
Barouch said it usually takes years, or even decades, to create some vaccines. And while it's unprecedented to have one developed in 12 to 18 months, technically, it's possible but many things would have to go perfectly. What's more, there needs to be enough vaccines for the world's population of nearly 8 billion.
"So, this is not a race to be first," Barouch said. " This is a global cooperation, in which multiple regions of the world and multiple companies need to work together to develop vaccines for a very, very large number of people."
