Fauci praises ‘safety valve’ in vax test halt
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, said AstraZeneca’s suspension s of the final testing of its virus vaccine v shows “one of the safety valves” built b into the studies to check potential problems. p
“It’s unfortunate that it happened and hopefully h they’ll be able to proceed along with w the remainder of the trial. But you don’t know — they need to investigate it further,” Fauci, infectious diseases chief at the National Institutes of Health, told “CBS This Morning” on Wednesday.
AstraZeneca stopped giving shots of its experimental coronavirus vaccine after a person participating in one of the company’s studies got sick, a potential adverse reaction that could delay efforts to rush an immunization against COVID-19. The company would not provide further details of the illness.
The pause stemmed from a standard review of the company’s vaccine trials, AstraZeneca said. The move was intended to give researchers time to examine safety data while maintaining the integrity of the trials, the company said.
The vaccine has been viewed as one of the leading candidates to reach the market.
“It’s important to point out that that’s the reason why you have various phases of trials, to determine if in fact, these candidates are safe,” Fauci (inset) said. “It’s really one of the safety valves you have on clinical trials such as this.”
Fauci stuck by his prediction that a coronavirus vaccine should be available by early 2021 — not before Election Day as President Trump has suggested.
He said it’s “possible but unlikely” that trials would be completed by the end of next month before Americans go to the polls Nov. 3.
Fauci praised drugmakers for their statement vowing not to press for a vaccine before it passes all safety checks. Big Pharma is responding to widespread public doubts about the reliability of approvals by Trump’s acolytes at the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
“I don’t think we will have a politicization of the vaccine,” Fauci said.
Fauci chided Trump for failing to insist that supporters wear face masks to his trademark political rallies.
He said all Americans, including members of Trump’s right-wing base, have a duty to limit the spread of COVID-19 by wearing masks, keeping physical distance and avoiding crowds when possible.