WASHINGTON (AP) — The government’s top infectious disease expert has told a House committee he believes “it will be when and not if” there will be a COVID-19 vaccine.
Dr. Anthony Fauci also says he remains “cautiously optimistic” that some will be ready at the end of the year. He has returned to Capitol Hill at a fraught moment in the nation’s pandemic response, with coronavirus cases rising in about half the states and political polarization competing for attention with public health recommendations.
Dr. Fauci tells House panel one Covid-19 vaccine candidate will enter Phase III in July (i.e. it will be given to thousands of people for study) following successful animal testing.
— Lucas Tomlinson (@LucasFoxNews) June 23, 2020
Fauci was testifying along with the heads of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration and a top official at the Department of Health and Human Services.
Fauci has warned that the U.S. is still in the first wave of the pandemic and has continued to urge the American public to practice social distancing.
