Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease doctor, on Friday said that he is “cautiously optimistic” a COVID-19 vaccine will be ready by the end of 2020 and widely distributed to Americans in the following year.
“There’s never a guarantee that you’re going to get a safe and effective vaccine, but from everything we’ve seen now in the animal data, as well as the early human data, we feel cautiously optimistic that we will have a vaccine by the end of this year and as we go into 2021,” Fauci told the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis led by House Majority Whip James Clyburn (D-S.C.).
Moderna, in collaboration with the National Institutes of Health, just launched its phase three trial for a potential COVID-19 vaccine, the phase that will help determine whether it is safe and effective.
There are currently dozens of vaccine candidates, including at least five the federal government is actively involved with, Fauci said.
Fauci added that he believes a vaccine can be distributed to all Americans through a phased approach in 2021.
“I believe, ultimately, over a period of time in 2021, if we have it, and I think we will have a safe and effective vaccine, that Americans will be able to get it,” Fauci said.
“I don’t think that they will have everybody getting it immediately in the beginning. It probably will be phased in.”
First responders, front-line health workers and essential workers will likely be among those first in line for a vaccine.