fbpx
News Articles

Trump administration optimistic COVID-19 vaccine will be widely available

Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), left, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, center, and Admiral Brett Giroir, U.S. assistant secretary for health, right, testify during a House Select Subcommittee hearing on the Coronavirus, Friday, July 31, 2020 on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Erin Scott/Pool via AP)


WASHINGTON (AP) — Once a COVID-19 vaccine is approved as safe and effective, Americans should have widespread access within a reasonable time, Dr. Anthony Fauci assured lawmakers Friday (July 31).

Appearing before a House panel investigating the nation’s response to the pandemic, Fauci expressed “cautious” optimism that a vaccine would be available, particularly by next year.

“I believe, ultimately, over a period of time in 2021, that Americans will be able to get it,” Fauci said, referring to the vaccine.

There will be a priority list for who gets early vaccinations. “I don’t think we will have everybody getting it immediately,” Fauci explained.

But “ultimately, within a reasonable time, the plans allow for any American who needs the vaccine to get it,” he added.

After the 2020 SBC Annual Meeting was canceled due to the COVID-19 global pandemic, the development and distribution of a vaccine would provide welcome relief to those planning to attend the 2021 meeting scheduled for June 15-16 in Nashville. Preparations and planning for the event are already underway.

Under direction from the White House, federal health authorities are carrying out a plan dubbed Operation Warp Speed to manufacture 300 million doses of a vaccine on a compressed timeline.

Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease official, said a quarter-million people have expressed interest in taking part in studies of experimental vaccines for the coronavirus.

He said that 250,000 people have registered on a government website to take part in vaccine trials, which are pivotal for establishing safety and effectiveness. Not all patients who volunteer to take part in clinical trials are eligible to participate.

Fauci was joined by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention head Dr. Robert Redfield and Health and Human Services testing czar Adm. Brett Giroir.

Giroir acknowledged that currently it’s not possible for the U.S. to return all coronavirus test results to patients in two to three days. He blamed overwhelming demand across the nation.

The latest government data show about 75 percent of testing results are coming back within five days, but the remainder are taking longer, Giroir told lawmakers. Fauci, Giroir and Redfield are calling on Americans to go back to public health basics such as social distancing and wearing masks.

Nearly 4.5 million Americans have been infected since the start of the pandemic, and more than 150,000 have died, according to figures compiled by Johns Hopkins University.