5 Takeaways From the Covid-19 Hearing
‘Don’t throw caution to the wind’
The coronavirus Fantastic Four — Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases; Robert Redfield, MD, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Stephen Hahn, MD, commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA); and Brett Giroir, MD, assistant secretary for health — returned to Congress today to testify before the House Energy and Commerce Committee about where the United States currently stands with the Covid-19 pandemic. Here are five key takeaways from the meeting.
1. We are on-track for a vaccine to be available by the beginning of 2021
Fauci confirmed that the first phase 3 trial for a vaccine for the virus, developed by the drug company Moderna, will begin in July, and if all goes well, it could begin to be administered to the public early next year. While there is still no guarantee the vaccine will work against the virus in the general population, Fauci says he is “cautiously optimistic” given the data so far. Several other vaccine options are also in various stages of development and testing, and preliminary results from animal studies are promising.
There has already been a substantial financial investment made toward manufacturing a vaccine in order to scale up…
