The nation’s top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said Wednesday that he predicts the U.S. will see a vaccine for the coronavirus by the end of 2020.
“I believe that by the time we get to the end of this calendar year… we will feel comfortable that we do have a safe and effective vaccine,” Fauci told NBC’s “Today” show.
After taking a few weeks off to recover from surgery to remove a polyp on his vocal cord, Dr. Anthony spoke to @SheinelleJones about the race for a coronavirus vaccine and his concerns about a possible surge in cases this Labor Day weekend. pic.twitter.com/vnrtem8uBq
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) September 2, 2020
As of Wednesday, he said a number of vaccine trials showed “enough data that you would really feel comfortable it was safe and effective for the American public.”
“I would not be comfortable with a vaccine unless it was shown in a clinical trial clearly to be safe and effective,” the head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease said.
AstraZeneca announced Monday its vaccine candidate has entered the final testing stage in the U.S. The Cambridge, England-based company said the study will involve up to 30,000 adults from various racial, ethnic and geographic groups.
Two other vaccine candidates began final testing this summer in tens of thousands of people in the U.S. One was created by the National Institutes of Health and manufactured by Moderna Inc., and the other developed by Pfizer Inc. and Germany’s BioNTech.
Fauci previously said that he believed a vaccine for COVID-19 could be developed by early 2021, though he stressed that the timeline was not guaranteed.
“When you’re developing vaccines there’s never a guarantee that you’re going to have a safe and effective vaccine,” Fauci said during an appearance in June on “Good Morning America.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci on concerns over the coronavirus spreading at protests and whether states and cities are reopening too fast: “You still have to practice a degree of caution.” @RobinRobertshttps://t.co/mE5YW08JHP pic.twitter.com/8dU2YUTFhB
— Good Morning America (@GMA) June 10, 2020
The United States leads the world with the most coronavirus cases and the highest death toll. Since the start of the pandemic, officials have confirmed more than 6 million infections and reported more than 184,000 deaths nationwide, according to numbers compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
As of Wednesday, more than 25.8 million COVID-19 cases have been reported worldwide and more than 858,000 people have died of the viral infection, according to Johns Hopkins.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Cox Media Group
