A Covid vaccine could be proved safe and effective by as early as the end of November, according to Dr Anthony Faucci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.
He stated that the issue of mass producing the vaccine on a large enough scale means there will be a prioritisation of who gets vaccinated first.
Healthcare workers will be likely to get the first line of vaccinations followed by individuals assessed as being in the “increased risk for complications” category.
The first round of vaccines could be reaching us between January and March 2021, however Faucci amended that:
“vaccinating a substantial proportion of the population so that you can have a significant impact on the dynamics of the outbreak [will not be achieved] until the second or third quarter of the year.”
Barriers
There may also be some problems convincing some members of the public to comply with vaccination procedures.
Dr Faucci, now a leading member of the White House Coronavirus Task Force, expressesd concern over US citizens “anti-science” views as a barrier to helping combat the virus.
He believes that anti-vaccine culture or so called ‘anti-vaxxers’ are spreading misinformation that could compromise the health of America’s most vulnerable.
In conversation with the BBC’s Andrew Marr, Faucci argued that growing mistrust towards authority figures has led to a lack of ‘faith’ in science.
America’s Covid death toll, just passed 225 000.
