Dr. Anthony Fauci responded to a claim from the head of Operation Warp Speed, the federal government’s multi-billion effort to develop a vaccine against Covid-19, that a coronavirus vaccine could be 90% effective.
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, called this claim from Moncef Slaoui "a very optimistic estimate," he said tonight on CNN's global coronavirus town hall.
"We all hope it's going to be that way," Fauci said. "When we look at the data from the phase one study ... it looks good because the vaccine induced neutralizing antibodies in the recipients was rather robust to the level that would you say is at least as good or better than what's induced by natural infection, namely what we're seeing in convalescent plasma. So that's the first good indication that gets us to be optimistic."
Some context: In his first television interview, Slaoui said he “wouldn’t be surprised” if the vaccine was about 90% effective.
“It’s very hard to predict of course – that’s why we’re doing the trial. My personal opinion based on my experience, I think this vaccine is going to be highly efficacious. I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s in the 90% [range],” said Slaoui, chief adviser to Operation Warp Speed. “I think it will be a very effective vaccine. That’s my prediction.”
Slaoui spoke Thursday with CNN while touring a Covid-19 vaccine clinical trial site in Savannah, Georgia. He’s a former GlaxoSmithKline executive who began his position with Operation Warp Speed in May.
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