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Tag: Anthony Fauci

  • Fauci urges caution on China and Russia virus vaccines

    Anthony Fauci, the United States’ top infectious disease official, raised concerns Friday regarding the safety of COVID-19 vaccines under development by China and Russia. Several Chinese companies are at the forefront of the global vaccine race, while Russia has said it hopes to be the first in the world to produce a vaccine for the public, with a target date of September.

    But the medicines will likely face heightened scrutiny given that the regulatory systems in both countries are far more opaque than they are in the West.

    Fauci, who was asked during a Congressional hearing whether the US could make use of Chinese or Russian vaccines if they arrived first, indicated that was unlikely.

    “I do hope that the Chinese and the Russians are actually testing the vaccine before they are administering the vaccine to anyone,” he said.

    He added: “Claims of having a vaccine ready to distribute before you do testing, I think, is problematic, at best.

    “We are going very quickly. I do not believe that there will be vaccines, so far ahead of us, that we will have to depend on other countries to get us vaccines.”

    Last month, Chinese media announced a coronavirus vaccine developed by CanSino Biologics was being used to immunize the Chinese military — making it the first approved for people, albeit in a limited population.

    Many scientists however raised ethical concerns because the vaccine has not yet begun its final stages of testing.

    ‘Sputnik moment’? Two other Chinese companies Sinovac and Sinopharm, have launched final phase three trials in Brazil and the United Arab Emirates, respectively.

    China, where the virus originated, has largely brought its outbreak under control and has therefore had to turn to other countries to test its vaccines.

    The trials in Brazil and the UAE will be watched particularly closely, given China’s history of vaccine and other health scandals.

    In 2018, more than 200,000 children were administered a defective vaccine for diphtheria, tetanus and whooping cough (DPT) that caused paralysis in a few cases.

    Russia, which was once a global vaccine leader during Soviet times, aims to bring two to market by September and October, respectively.

    The first is being developed by the Moscow-based Gamaleya institute and the defense ministry, and the second by the Vektor state laboratory near the Siberian city of Novosibirsk.

    Russia has released no scientific data proving the vaccines’ safety or efficacy.

    Nevertheless, Kirill Dmitriev, the head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund which is financing the Gamaleya trials, told CNN:  “It’s a Sputnik moment.”

    Sputnik was the world’s first satellite launched by Russia in 1957.

    Three Western coronavirus vaccines are in final phase three trials.

    One is produced by US biotech firm Moderna and the National Institutes for Health; one by the University of Oxford and Britain’s AstraZeneca; and the last by Germany’s BioNTech with US pharmaceutical Pfizer.

    China and Russia both stand accused of attempting to steal Western coronavirus research — charges they deny.

    Source: AFP

  • ‘Serious’ consequences if US reopens too fast: top government expert

    The US government’s top infectious disease expert warned Congress Tuesday that ending lockdowns too quickly could bring severe consequences including new outbreaks of coronavirus just as the country tries to overcome the pandemic.

    Anthony Fauci told a Senate panel the federal government had developed guidelines for local jurisdictions on how to safely re-open activities, and a sustained decrease in cases for 14 days was a vital first step.

    “If a community or a state or region doesn’t go by those guidelines and reopens… the consequences could be really serious,” said Fauci.

    Fauci acknowledged that US deaths caused by the virus are likely higher than the roughly 80,000 fatalities in the current official government toll.

    This, he said, was because many people particularly in hardest-hit New York died at home before they could be admitted to a hospital.

    But he also said he was “cautiously optimistic” about the prospects of a vaccine, with eight candidates currently undergoing clinical trials.

    “We have many candidates and hope to have multiple winners,” he said. “In other words, it’s multiple shots on goal.”

    – Remote testimony –

    Fauci, who has become the trusted face of the federal government’s virus response, was one of four top medical experts testifying remotely at the hearing of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee.

    The New York Times had earlier reported Fauci would warn the country would see “needless suffering and death” if it rushed too quickly to re-open, but the remarks did not eventually feature in his opening address.

    There has been frequent speculation that Fauci’s forthright approach has irritated President Donald Trump, who has been accused of downplaying the dangers of the crisis as he rushes to restart the economy.

    Tuesday’s hearing was Fauci’s first appearance before Congress since Trump declared the coronavirus pandemic a national emergency on March 13.

    The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Fauci himself is in “modified quarantine” after Vice President Mike Pence’s spokeswoman — who he had no close contact with — tested positive.

    “Opening Up America Again” is name of the administration’s guidelines on a three-phase approach to help state and local officials reopen their economies, while observing medical advice on limiting the spread of the virus.

    Among the administration’s requirements before moving to a phased comeback, states should have a “downward trajectory” of documented cases or positive tests, as a percentage of total tests, over two weeks.

    There should be a robust testing program for at-risk healthcare workers, with asymptomatic cases screened as well, and contacts of positive cases traced.

    Trump has been criticized as essentially abdicating any leadership role during the pandemic, leaving states on their own to grapple with their outbreaks and even bid against each other to obtain critical medical equipment on the open market or abroad.

    While the situation has improved in New York — the epicenter of the US outbreak — progress has been slow elsewhere.

    The US has reported more than 80,000 deaths and 1.3 million infections.

    Source: france24.com