The United States will pursue a vaccine to provide immunity for multiple strains of coronaviruses that could potentially cause another pandemic, top infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said Thursday.
“What people are asking is, ‘Can we actually conceptually and in reality get a pan-coronavirus vaccine?’” Fauci said. “There have been a number of forays into that using different types of vaccine platforms.”
FULLY VACCINATED PEOPLE DON’T NEED TO WEAR MASKS INDOORS, CDC SAYS
A team of researchers at the Duke University Human Vaccine Institute have begun testing a vaccine in animals that they said could protect against several strains of the coronavirus including highly transmissible variants. The pan-coronavirus vaccine elicited an immune response in mice and monkeys, though it will be a while yet until those shots go into human subjects. Still, Fauci said, the Duke University report is an “important proof of concept.”
“We always have to have a caveat when you’re dealing with a nonhuman primate. Nonetheless, this is an extremely important proof of concept that we will be aggressively pursuing as we get into the development of human trials,” Fauci said.
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Questions about new variants have gained salience as the U.S. vaccination campaign has proceeded. To date, the U.S. has administered nearly 265 million shots, enough to give nearly 59% of all U.S. adults their first doses. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revised social distancing guidelines on Thursday to reflect the country’s progress in beating back the pandemic, announcing that people who have been fully vaccinated do not need to wear masks indoors.
