Fauci confident of vaccine by late 2020 or ’21
WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci said Friday that he remains confident that a coronavirus vaccine will be ready by early next year, telling lawmakers that a quartermillion Americans already have volunteered to take part in clinical trials.
But officials testifying with Fauci at a contentious House hearing acknowledged that the U.S. remains unable to deliver all COVID-19 test results within two or three days, and they jointly pleaded with Americans to comply with basic precautions such as wearing masks, avoiding crowds and washing their hands frequently.
Those simple steps can deliver “the same bang for the buck as if we just shut the entire economy down,” said a frustrated Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, adding that he has studies to back that up.
Looking ahead, Fauci said he’s “cautiously optimistic that we will have a vaccine by the end of this year and as we go into 2021. I don’t think it’s dreaming. … I believe it’s a reality [and] will be shown to be reality.”
Ginsburg out of hospital
WASHINGTON — Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has been discharged from a hospital in New York City and has returned home, the Supreme Court said Friday.
The court said Ginsburg, 87, is doing well, two days after undergoing a minimally invasive procedure on Wednesday to “revise a bile duct stent” at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center.