Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), said there could be serious consequences if the United States reopen too soon.
He expressed concerns and said that if the states and counties do not follow the federal government’s guidelines on how and when to reopen, there could be more coronavirus outbreaks.
Dr. Fauci said, “If states or cities or regions disregard the government’s checkpoints on when it’s safe to pull back from mitigation measures, there is a real risk that you will trigger an outbreak that you might not be able to control, which, in fact, paradoxically, will set you back, not only leading to some suffering and death that could be avoided but could even set you back on the road to trying to get economic recovery.”
“We would almost turn the clock back, rather than going forward,” he told to the Senate Health Committee Tuesday via videoconference.
Dr. Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, also provided an update on the coronavirus vaccine development, offering an optimistic timeline. He said there are currently at least eight vaccines that are undergoing development.
“We have many candidates and hope to have multiple winners,” he said. “On January 10, the sequence was known. On 14 January, we officially started the vaccine development. Sixty-two days later, we are in clinical trial with the two doses fully enrolled.”
“If we are successful, we hope to know that in the late fall and early winter,” he added. However, he warned that “there is also the possibility of negative consequences where certain vaccines can actually enhance the negative effect of the infection.”
Apart from Dr. Fauci, the videoconference included CDC Director Dr. Robert Redfield, FDA Commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn, and Assistant Secretary for Health Dr. Brett Giroir.
Senator Mitt Romney asked the NIAID head, “Dr. Fauci, is president Obama or by extension President Trump, did they do something that made the likelihood of creating a vaccine less likely, are either President Trump or President Obama responsible for the fact that we don’t have a vaccine now.”
“No, no, senator not at all,” Dr. Fauci replied. “Certainly President Obama nor President Trump are responsible for our not having a vaccine.” He went on to say that that vaccine development has in fact been moving “rather rapidly.”
At this point, Dr. Fauci said he believes that the COVID-19 infection rate is coming down a little.
“When you look at the dynamics of new cases, even though some are coming down, the curve looks flat with some slight coming down,” he said. “So, I think we’re going in the right direction. But the right direction does not mean we have by any means total control of this outbreak.”
