Top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci, M.D., told Congress that the Trump administration won’t cut corners on safety and efficacy in the race to get a COVID-19 vaccine, but that there will be financial risk for the federal government.
Fauci told lawmakers that the government is taking on financial risk so that it will be ready with doses of a vaccine as soon as it gets approved so that doses are available quickly to the public. But the government could lose out on billions if a vaccine fails.
“I would be disappointed if we jumped to a conclusion before we knew that a vaccine was truly safe and truly effective,” he said during a hearing of the Energy & Commerce Committee on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, the Department of Health and Human Services announced Operation Warp Speed, which aims to deliver 300 million doses of an approved vaccine by January 2021.
HHS has given out more than $2 billion to drug makers Johnson & Johnson, Moderna and AstraZeneca who are developing COVID-19 vaccines. The money includes investments to expand the manufacturing capabilities for the companies.
Fauci said that the first candidates are going into phase III clinical trial in July and it will take a few months to accrue enough people.
“I wanted to make sure that before we let a vaccine out to the general public, we are as confident about the efficacy as we are about the safety,” he said.
Administration officials also touched on the supplies that will be needed if a second surge erupts of COVID-19 this fall.
“Today I do believe they have the supplies they need,” said Admiral Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for HHS, referring to providers. “When we get a report of facility not having supplies, we call [them] to understand what those needs are.”
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Giroir said that at the onset of the pandemic “everyone in the world was looking for the same supplies and we tried to manage that by increasing supplies and using the Defense Production Act three times.”
Right now, the government is working to ensure that it has a 60- to 90-day supply of personal protective equipment in case of a second surge in the fall.
“I am confident moving from here on as we ramp domestic manufacturing that we will be in a much better position than we were three months ago,” he said.