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.
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.
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Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases, speaks during a House Select Subcommittee on
the Coronavirus Crisis hearing in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 31,
2020. Erin Scott/Pool via REUTERS
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."
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."
(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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