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Dr. Anthony Fauci says Moderna’s 94.5%-effective vaccine is ‘impressive’
WASHINGTON - The United States' top infectious disease expert says news from Moderna that its COVID-19 vaccine candidate is 94.5% effective 'is really quite impressive.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told NBC's 'Today” on Monday that Moderna's finding, along with similar results from Pfizer last week for its vaccine, 'is something that foretells an impact on this outbreak.”
'So now we have two vaccines that are really quite effective, so I think this is a really strong step forward to where we want to be about getting control with this outbreak,” Fauci said.
Asked about the timeline for vaccinating people, Fauci projected that by the end of December, there will be doses available for people at high risk from the coronavirus.
Fauci said the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines have different platforms than other vaccines now in the pipeline. But he said the other vaccine platforms are using the 'spike protein” of the coronavirus which has been researched very intensively, giving him hope that more than two of these vaccines also will be effective.
In this Sept. 23, 2020 file photo, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health, listens during a Senate Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Hearing on the federal government response to COVID-19 Capitol Hill in Washington. Fauci is recommending masks at Thanksgiving gatherings if the coronavirus status of people is unknown. (Graeme Jennings/Pool via AP)
