The chances of a vaccine being 100% effective are “not excellent” according to the leading figure in the fight against COVID-19 in the United States, Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Disease infectious diseases (NIH).
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“We do not yet know how effective the vaccine will be,” said the US public health official on Friday as part of a webinar from Brown University (Rhode Island) – comments relayed by Sky News.
“We don’t know if it will be 50% or 60% effective. I would like it to be 75% or more, “said Dr Fauci, warning that the preventive health approach should” never be abandoned “in the probable event that the development of a vaccine that is 98% or more effective is. impossible.
Donald Trump’s administration on Wednesday announced a new $ 1 billion investment in drug company Johnson & Johnson’s COVID-19 vaccine project, pushing total investments to more than $ 9 billion.
Johnson & Johnson, via its subsidiary Janssen, had already received $ 456 million at the end of March. The new billion will fund a large-scale demonstration project to manufacture its experimental vaccine, with the promised delivery of 100 million doses, if the vaccine proves effective. The parties provide for a possible amendment of 200 million additional doses.
The check raises U.S. public investment to at least $ 9.4 billion in vaccine projects, including supply contracts signed with five companies to deliver at least 700 million doses, according to a tally of AFP.
Provided the vaccines are licensed, the United States could theoretically get 100 million doses from four groups (Johnson & Johnson, Novavax, Pfizer / BioNTech, Sanofi / GSK) and 300 million doses from Oxford / AstraZeneca, this last alliance having also signed or being in negotiations with other countries, in particular 400 million doses for the European Union.
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