Dr. Huerta explains when vaccine would be available 2:44
(CNN) –– US President Donald Trump suggested in a radio interview Thursday with Fox News correspondent Geraldo Rivera that a coronavirus vaccine could be ready before the November elections.
When asked by Rivera about when there could be a vaccine, the president replied that "it could be much before" the end of the year. "Before November 3?" The correspondent replied. "I think in some cases yes, possibly earlier, but around that time," Trump said.
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Hours later that same day, the president told the press that he was "optimistic" that a vaccine could be ready by November 3, and noted that while this "would not affect" his chances for reelection, he did. he did "to save many lives."
Facts First: It is possible for a vaccine to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) sometime in November, but there is obviously no set deadline or guarantee that it will. be. And even if a vaccine achieves clearance, it will likely take many months before it becomes widely available in the United States.
A vaccine developed by the biotechnology company Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) is in the final phase of its clinical trial. Their initial phase 1 results were promising, showing immune responses and, for more than half of the patients, normal side effects such as fatigue and headache.
Fauci defends the safety of a possible vaccineYou can read more about the vaccine here. There are also other vaccines that have entered the final phase of the clinical trial.
During some interviews last month, NIAID Director Dr. Anthony Fauci made it clear that while a vaccine could be approved in November or possibly earlier, it probably won't be widely available until “several months” later in 2021.
"I think as we approach 2021, several months later, you would have [a] vaccine that would be widely available to people in the United States," Fauci told Bob Costa of The Washington Post during the Post Live event on the 24th. of July.
Moderna has said that if the vaccine is approved by the FDA, the company could produce at least 500 million and up to 1 billion doses in fiscal 2021.
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According to Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health and head of Fauci, millions of doses of vaccines could be available early on if the Moderna vaccine is approved later this year. This is mainly because the US is already producing these unapproved vaccines so that they will be ready when they are approved, should that happen.
"We are literally producing the vaccine on a commercial scale right now, while we conduct clinical trials," Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar told CNBC on July 22. “We are doing it at risk, using the full power of the US government and our financial resources to do that. No one has done this before, ”he added.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices is already considering who should get vaccinated first, such as front-line workers and populations at risk. CDC has also requested outside information from the National Academy of Medicine.
PAHO: Many were left without a vaccine in the 1:29 H1N1 pandemicThe government is working to secure supplies of syringes and glassware to administer vaccine doses across the United States, as well as an ad campaign to build trust and demand.
You can read more about those efforts here.
Nothing is certain and Trump's optimism could be shattered in the coming months. Some experts refuse to set specific dates and deadlines.
"I think at this time it is very dangerous to give specific dates," former Director General of Health Dr. Vivek Murthy told CNN's Wolf Blitzer on Thursday, noting that the safety and efficacy of a vaccine remain the priority.
Collins pointed out to Blitzer that same night that "the faster the better, but it's not going to tie into any other timeframe other than making sure we have something that works and is secure."
Covid-19 Clinical trial Pandemic Vaccine Coronavirus vaccine