Fauci hopes for year-end vaccine

Top docs issue warning to follow safety guidelines

WASHINGTON — Dr. Anthony Fauci told members of Congress he was “cautiously optimistic” an effective vaccine will be available by the end of this year or the beginning of next year, but he warned that the next few weeks will be critical to tamping down a surge in coronavirus infections.

Fauci, the nation’s top infectious-disease expert, and other top Trump administration health officials said the pandemic could continue for some time and urged continuing social distancing and other precautions as they testified in a high-profile congressional hearing Tuesday.

With cases rising in nearly half the states and a White House eager to return to normal, Fauci and three other key officials appeared before a House panel overseeing the administration’s response. All four attended in person, instead of remotely.

Fauci’s testimony was his first since a highly anticipated appearance a month ago, and it comes on the heels of President Donald Trump’s comments at a campaign rally in Tulsa, Okla., on Saturday that he had asked officials to slow testing to show fewer cases.

Fauci said he hadn’t received such a directive and that health officials planned to do just the opposite.

“The virus is not going to disappear.”

Dr. Anthony Fauci

“In fact, we will be doing more testing,” Fauci said.

White House officials have said Trump was joking during the rally. But Trump on Tuesday said, “I don’t kid,” when a reporter asked him whether he was joking.

Fauci was joined before the House Energy and Commerce Committee by Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Stephen Hahn, head of the Food and Drug Administration; and Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health.

On the vaccine front, Hahn said his agency intends to use “appropriate flexibility” in employing regulatory tools to provide guidance to researchers and companies working on candidates. But he said “data and science will dictate” when the FDA approves any product.

The government is providing extensive financial support to 14 vaccine candidates.

“Although you can never guarantee at all the safety and efficacy of a vaccine until you test in the field, we feel cautiously optimistic based on the concerted effort and the fact that we are taking financial risks to be able to be ahead of the game so that when ... we get favorable candidates with good results, we will be able to make them available to the American public” within a year of when officials began researching a vaccine in mid-January, Fauci said.

Hahn also said the agency has launched a “comprehensive” review of all its responses to date involving the coronavirus. The goal, he said, is to keep “what is working well” and to adjust policies that aren’t producing the desired result.

The FDA has been criticized for initially being slow to clear diagnostic tests for COVID-19 from academic laboratories and then being too lenient on antibody tests. The agency since has adjusted both policies.

Calling the pandemic the “greatest public health crisis” that the United States has faced in more than a century, Redfield urged Americans to continue social distancing and hand-washing and to use face coverings to prevent and control the spread of the coronavirus, calling them the “most powerful weapons” health officials have.

Fauci said he’s seeing a “disturbing surge” of infections in some parts of the country, as Americans ignore social distancing guidelines and states reopen without adequate plans for testing and tracing the contacts of those who get sick.

“The virus is not going to disappear,” Fauci said.

Redfield said the rise in the number of cases in many states is driven by several factors, including increased community transmission. His comments undercut Trump’s assertions that the increase in cases is the result of increased testing.

In preparing for the possibility of COVID-19 and influenza hitting at the same time this fall, Redfield also urged Americans to embrace flu vaccinations.

“This single act will save lives,” he said.

Fauci also delivered a stern message to young people, saying they could endanger others by ignoring the coronavirus threat.

And after mass protests for racial justice that have drawn huge crowds and Trump’s Tulsa campaign rally that was held despite public health warnings, he gently suggested Americans needed to do a better job of taking precautions to reduce the virus’ spread.

“Plan A: Don’t go in a crowd,” he said. “Plan B: If you do, make sure you wear a mask.”