Fauci ‘cautiously optimistic’ a vaccine will be available by the end of the year

A vaccine for the COVID-19 virus will likely be available by the end of the year Dr. Anthony Fauci said before a House committee Tuesday.

“We feel cautiously optimistic, based on the concerted effort and the fact we are taking financial risks — not risks to safety, not risks to the integrity of the science, but financial risk to be able to be ahead of the game — so that when, and I believe it will be when and not if, we get favorable candidates with good results, we will be able to make them available to the American public,” Fauci testified. “It would put us at the end of this calendar year and the beginning of 2021.”

Fauci, infectious diseases chief at the National Institutes of Health, told legislators that he still felt confident that a viable vaccine would be available for distribution by the end of the year, but warned that an increase in the number of cases of the COVID-19 virus was likely on the horizon.

“We’ve been hit badly,” said Fauci, who is part of the White House Task Force on the Coronavirus.

“Right now the next couple of weeks are going to be critical in our ability to address those surges we are seeing in Florida, Texas, Arizona, and other states,” Fauci said. “They are not the only ones having difficulty. Bottom line, it is a mixed bag.”

Fauci was testifying before the House Energy and Commerce Committee along with Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Federal Drug Administration chief Dr. Stephen Hahn and Adm. Brett Giroir, head of the U.S. Public Health Service.

Several companies are working on a vaccine and many have gone ahead with production of the medication to help cut the time to distribution should the drugs prove to be effective against the virus.

The U.S. has tested more than 27 million people, with about 2.3 million testing positive. More than 120,000 Americans have died from the virus.

During his testimony, Fauci referred to one vaccine under development by the biotech firm Moderna. The vaccine is expected to enter Phase 3 trials by next month.

Fauci and others testifying Tuesday were asked if they had been told by President Donald Trump or anyone in his administration to cut back on testing for COVID-19 infections.

The men said they had not been asked to scale back testing in any way.

Trump said during a rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, on Saturday that he was urging his health officials to slow down testing. He and his press secretary later said the comment was made in jest as a jab at the media.

Cox Media Group