U.S. Secretary of Health Alex Azar said Tuesday morning that the United States hopes to have a coronavirus vaccine approved by December and tamped Russia’s celebrations on discovering its own vaccine after rapid development.
“The point is not to be first,” Azar said. “The point is to have a vaccine that is safe and effective for the American people and the people of the world.”
Russia approved a controversial Covid-19 vaccine for widespread use after less than two months of human testing, including a dose administration to one of Vladimir Putin’s daughters.
Kirill Dmitriev, head of the country’s RDIF sovereign wealth fund, said the vaccine would be branded abroad under the brand name Sputnik V with international agreements to produce 500m doses and applications for 1 billion from 20 countries.
The development was seen by Putin as proof of Russia’s scientific prowess, but the abbreviated test regime has raised eyebrows elsewhere for skipping so-called phase 3 large-scale security tests, which normally take months. Instead, Phase 3 trials will be conducted in parallel with mass production of the vaccine, including in Brazil.
Azar said on Tuesday that: “We need transparent data, it should be phase 3 data that shows that the vaccine is safe and effective and that is what President Trump is leading with Operation Warp Speed.”
The project is the public-private partnership that coordinates vaccine testing in the US. Azar told ABC’s Good Morning America show that six vaccines were in development and “we believe we are on the way to tens of millions of doses by December from FDA [Food and Drug Administration] gold standard and hundreds of millions as we go into the new year ”.
Top US public health expert Anthony Fauci, who sits on the White House coronavirus task force, said he was “cautiously optimistic” about trials under way, but the trials should have their results before scientists will know if the US has a viable vaccine.
Azar was challenged by ABC on reports from analysts looking at the work of Moderna, one of the U.S. companies with a phase 3 trial fax, and concluded that trial results will only show until early 2021.
Azar said it depended on the speed at which people could enroll for the ongoing trials.
Azar spoke to the Taiwanese TV network, where he is on a rare official visit by a US government figure and has praised the country’s treatment of coronavirus, which contrasts sharply with the situation in the United States. FS where the pandemic is out of control.
He met with the Taiwanese president on Monday, with the visit threatening to escalate the prolonged tensions between Washington and Beijing.
The People’s Republic of China claims that Taiwan, the Republic of China, is part of its territory and causes problems with any recognition of Taiwan’s status as a sovereign state.
Trump told Fox Sports Radio on Tuesday that he once had a very good relationship with Chinese President Xi Jinping, but that changed after the pandemic and that he has not spoken to his Chinese counterpart for a long time.
In a TV interview, Azar praised Taiwan’s transparency over its public health plans, saying “China has not been transparent and has not cooperated”.
Meanwhile, Trump will be briefed on U.S. fax efforts later on Tuesday and will likely provide a public update, White House adviser Kellyanne Conway told Fox News.
Reuters contributed reporting
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