A vaccine for the coronavirus is on track to be ready for human trials sooner than anticipated, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases head Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Tuesday.
“From the time we had the available sequence [of the virus], we had hoped to be in clinical trials within two to three months,” Fauci said. “I’m happy to report to you this afternoon that we are on time at least, and maybe even a little better.”
Boston-based biotech company Moderna sent the first batch of its vaccine to the NIAID on Monday for study. Part of the White House’s $2.5 billion supplemental budget request includes more than $1 billion to spend on vaccine development. Using the additional funding, the institute expects to start human trials on about 25 volunteers by the end of April.
Fauci added that the vaccine will enter the first of many safety trials before becoming available to the public, which would take at least a year. Still, the coronavirus is likely to remain active beyond the current flu season.
“So, a vaccine may not solve the problems of the next couple of months, but it certainly would be an important tool that we would have,” Fauci said.
The budget to help pay for vaccine research and development, according to some members of Congress, might be insufficient.
Soon after the White House submitted the supplemental budget request Monday night, lawmakers from both sides of the aisle criticized the Trump administration for requesting a relatively small sum when compared to the $6 billion that President Barack Obama requested in 2014 to fight the Ebola outbreak.
“Americans need a coordinated, fully funded, whole-of-government response to keep them and their loved ones safe,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “The president’s request for coronavirus response funding is long overdue and completely inadequate to the scale of this emergency.”
During Tuesday’s Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on the Health and Human Services 2021 budget request, GOP Chairman Richard Shelby said the Trump administration is “low-balling” its request for emergency funding.
“It seems to me at the outset that this request for the money, the supplemental, is low-balling it, possibly, and you can’t afford to do that,” the Alabama Republican said.
