Dr. Anthony Fauci, lead epidemiologist in the White House coronavirus task force, said Tuesday he was optimistic about researchers delivering a coronavirus vaccine by December 2020 or January 2021.
Fauci testified in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee alongside FDA commissioner Stephen Hahn, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Robert Redfield and Assistant Secretary for Health Brett Giroir. (RELATED: ‘Of Course Not’: Fauci Says He Would Not Attend Trump Rally Over Coronavirus Fears)
“Although you can never guarantee at all the safety and efficacy of a vaccine until you actually test it in the field, we feel cautiously optimistic based on the concerted effort, and the fact that we are taking financial risks — not risks to safety, not risks to the integrity of the science, but financial risks — to be able to be ahead of the game,” Fauci said, “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, as I said to this committee months ago, within a year from when we started, which would put us at the end of this calendar year and the beginning of 2021.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci: Because of the Trump administration’s actions, the U.S. is “ahead of the game” on a vaccine, “optimistic” a vaccine will be widely available by the end of 2020 or early 2021https://t.co/s3ZUFE0v8U pic.twitter.com/6URTyCSCWD
— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) June 23, 2020
The White House coronavirus task force adviser also testified that President Donald Trump has never asked the task force to slow down testing the population for COVID-19, responding to a question prompted by Trump saying he’d asked administration officials to slow down testing at a campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma. (RELATED: ‘I Don’t Kid’: Trump Contradicts Staff, Says He Wasn’t Joking About Asking To Slow Down Testing)
“To my knowledge, none of us have ever been told to slow down on testing. That just is a fact,” Fauci said.