Washington, Jul 28 (IANS): US President Donald Trump has highlighted the progress on the development of a vaccine for COVID-19, in an effort to project optimism about the administration's response to the ongoing pandemic, it was reported.

Trump on Monday visited a biotech facility in North Carolina to boast of the rapid progress on finding a vaccine to combat the pandemic, claiming his administration's work through its vaccine development effort, Operation Warp Speed, had reduced the wait time by "years", reports The Hill news website.

He hailed the project as a "historic initiative to develop, test, manufacture and deliver a vaccine in record time".

Trump, as he has previously, said that he believed a vaccine could be available by the end of the year.

"I heard very positive things, but by the end of the year, we think we're in very good shape to be doing that," The Hill news quoted the President as saying to reporters at the facility.

The Trump administration has struggled to curb the spread of the virus which has so far infected a total of 4,287,974 people and killed 148,009 others.

Both tallies currently account for the world's highest.