Coronavirus: US vaccine tsar expresses optimism for ‘a few hundred million doses’ by end of the year
- Moncef Slaoui, a former pharmaceutical executive, has been chosen to lead the US development programme
- US government is racing to arrest a sharp spike in unemployment brought about by the pandemic
The former pharmaceutical executive chosen this week by US President Donald Trump to speed up the development of a coronavirus vaccine said on Friday that he expected to accomplish the goal by the end of this year.
“I have very recently seen early data from a clinical trial with a coronavirus vaccine, and these data made me feel even more confident that we will be able to deliver a few hundred million doses of vaccine by the end of 2020,” Moncef Slaoui, who is leading the US development programme, said at a White House press briefing. “We will do the best we can, the best we can, to do that.”
Trump is under pressure to speed up the development of an effective vaccine against Sars-CoV-2, the coronavirus that causes Covid-19, as measures designed to slow the illness’ spread have thrown tens of millions of Americans out of work. More than 35 million people have filed for unemployment benefits since Trump declared a national emergency in March, as confirmed Covid-19 cases and deaths began to escalate in the US.
The mitigation measures most states put in place to slow the contagion’s spread included the closure of non-essential businesses. The resulting losses dragged US retail sales down by a record 16.4 per cent in April, after an 8.4 per cent drop in March.
Health experts including Dr Anthony Fauci, the US’ leading infectious disease expert, have said businesses cannot expect to operate at pre-pandemic levels until a vaccine is widely available.