BackUS disease expert Anthony Fauci says covid vaccine verdict likely by year-end
Widespread vaccination would not be likely until later in 2021, said the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
PremiumUS infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci on Sunday it would be clear whether a COVID-19 vaccine was safe and effective by early December, but that more widespread vaccination would not be likely until later in 2021.
"We will know whether a vaccine is safe and effective by the end of November, the beginning of December," Fauci told the BBC.
"When you talk about vaccinating a substantial proportion of the population, so that you can have a significant impact on the dynamics of the outbreak, that very likely will not be until the second or third quarter of the year."
The World Health Organization’s director general has said some countries in the northern hemisphere are facing a “dangerous moment" as US coronavirus infections hit a record for the second day and France’s cases rose by more than 50,000. Global infections topped 43 million.
Spain announced a nationwide curfew and Italy introduced the strongest measures since May.
British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said on Monday that a vaccine to tackle COVID-19 was "not there yet" but the government was getting ready to roll out it, with a central expectation for the first half of 2021.
"On my central expectation, I would expect the bulk of the roll out to be in the first half of next year," he said. Asked if some people could receive a vaccine this year he replied: "I don't rule that out but that is not my central expectation."
"We want to be ready in case everything goes perfectly but it's not my central expectation that we'll be doing that this year but the programme is progressing well, we're not there yet."
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