Fauci
expects tens of millions of coronavirus vaccine doses at
start of 2021
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[August 06, 2020]
By Michael Erman and Jeff Mason
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Drugmakers will
likely have tens of millions of doses of coronavirus vaccines in the
early part of next year, Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. infectious diseases
official, said in a Reuters interview on Wednesday, offering a more
conservative view of the ramp up than some Trump administration
officials.
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Fauci said there could be a billion vaccine doses available by the
end of 2021, and that he is hopeful the world could get past the
pandemic that has claimed more than 700,000 lives worldwide by then,
with the help of a vaccine.
U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said last
month the U.S. would have hundreds of millions of vaccine doses by
early in 2021.
Those goals are only possible because drugmakers have agreed to
manufacture large supplies of their vaccines even before they know
whether they work in order to save time.
"The federal government has put more than one egg in the basket,"
Fauci said. "We have a pretty comprehensive portfolio that's going
to subsequently be going into clinical trials."
He said there might be an indication that at least one vaccine works
and is safe by year end.
"I'm cautiously optimistic that we will have a vaccine that's
effective enough to get approved," he said.
That will not happen because of any pressure to have a vaccine
available in time for the Nov. 3 presidential election, he said.
Health regulators have promised "they are not going to let political
considerations interfere" with the need to deliver a safe COVID-19
vaccine, Fauci said.
Fauci's interview with Reuters came on the same day Trump said in an
interview with Fox News that the virus is "going away. It will go
away like things go away."
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Fauci offered a more mixed assessment, saying some parts of the country had done
well in containing the spread of the virus, while others were "on fire."
"I hope, and feel it's possible, that by the time we get through 2021 and go
around for another cycle that we'll have this under control," he said.
The United States is committed to spending billions of dollars on vaccines being
produced by companies including Johnson & Johnson <JNJ.N>, Moderna Inc <MRNA.O>,
Pfizer Inc <PFE.N>, Novavax Inc <NVAX.O> and Sanofi SA <SASY.PA>, employing a
variety of technologies.
Fauci said he did not favor one approach over any other.
"All of them look pretty good," he said. "The proof of the pudding is the
randomized placebo controlled trial."
Video: Reuters interview with Anthony Fauci https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Glq3yQECfSY&feature=youtu.be
(Reporting by Jeff Mason and Michael Erman; Additional reporting by Carl
O'Donnell and Julie Steenhuysen; Writing by Lisa Lambert and James Oliphant;
Editing by Howard Goller and Bill Berkrot)
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