Anthony Fauci
Anthony Fauci Many top NBA players are concerned about promoting COVID-19 vaccines: White House report says teachers’ vaccinations are not necessary for schools to reopen CNN’s John Berman helps White House reopen schools: MORE, the country’s top expert in infectious diseases, said on Thursday that a vaccine for a variant of the coronavirus that is likely to originate in South Africa is likely to take several months.
“It’s probably going to take a few months,” Fauci said, asking about the timeline for vaccine development by MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell.
‘For example, we already work with the Moderna company. Pfizer does it on their own, I’m sure. It is a good company, a great company, ”he added. “But what we are doing is getting a sample of the vaccine with them that you can code for the protein that is the appropriate protein for the South African isolate.”
Fauci added that ‘the effectiveness of the vaccine has enough cushioning to provide some protection, especially against serious diseases. Although the vaccine cannot be protected against mild to moderate diseases with the South African isolate, it strongly suggests that it will do very well against serious diseases, namely to keep people out of hospital and prevent them. die. ”
The director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases added that ‘finally, what we are doing, in anticipation of us having to use it – we do not know yet – to now make other versions of the vaccine that is specifically targeted. against the South African isolate. ”
Also on Thursday, Fauci warned that extreme weather in some regions of the country is likely to cause a delay in vaccination.
“We’ll just have to make up for it once the weather gets a little light, the ice melts and we can get the trucks out and the people out and get the vaccine in people’s arms,” Fauci told MSNBC. Thursday. “We’ll just have to make up for it, namely do double time when this thing clears up.”