Dr. Anthony Fauci testified before a Senate panel on the government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic when he shared some positive news.
While there are still plenty of concerns the public should be worried about regarding COVID-19, Fauci said that a vaccine could be discovered by the time the fall rolls around — while also warning there could still be a second outbreak.
“There are at least eight candidate COVID-19 vaccines in clinical development. The [National Institute of Health] has been collaborating with a number of pharmaceutical companies at various stages of development,” said Fauci, via the New York Post. “In January of this year, I said that it would take about one year to 18 months, if we were successful in developing a vaccine.
“If we are successful, we hope to know that in the late fall, and early winter … we have many candidates and hope to have multiple winners. In other words, it’s multiple shots on goal. This will be important because this will be good for global availability, if we have more than one successful candidate.”
States across the country are slowly beginning to reopen in phases as we appear to have flattened the curve of the virus, but the CDC warns everyone it is still important to practice proper social distancing measures.
The coronavirus mainly comes from animals and a majority of those who were infected early either worked at or frequently visited the Huanan seafood wholesale market in Wuhan, according to The Guardian. The virus is similar to Severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) and Middle Eastern respiratory syndrome (Mers).
The Wuhan coronavirus is transmitted from person to person through “droplet transmission.” That means an infected person can pass the virus by sneezing or coughing on another person as well as by direct contact.
While a majority of the cases have been detected in the United States and China — with more than 80,500 deaths in the United States and more than 1 million confirmed cases — it has now reached many countries around the world. It has also been confirmed in Italy, Australia, Canada, France, Germany, and many other eastern countries.
