According to former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, it is not likely a vaccine for the coronavirus will be available anytime this year.
Gottlieb noted it takes a while to manufacture a vaccine and then conduct stability testing. It is not something that can be immediately distributed for use.
He predicted manufacturing a coronavirus vaccine on a large scale is something that is likely to happen next year.
“A lot of things can go wrong. A lot of things can be delayed. It’s very hard to get to the point where you’re manufacturing at high, high quantities,” Gottlieb said.
He added, “I would say that’s probably more likely a 2021 event that we’re going to have the vaccine available in sufficient quantities.”
Check out his comments below:
VACCINE NEWS: “It’s probably a 2021 event,” @ScottGottliebMD tells @margbrennan about when there will be widespread availability of a reliable vaccine for #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/a1JjU0fpoD
— Face The Nation (@FaceTheNation) May 17, 2020
Gottlieb explained there could be 200 million Americans who want the vaccine, who are also eligible for it, but that may take 400 million doses.
He does believe the vaccine will be available in the near future for certain uses.
“I do think we’ll have the vaccine available in the fall for use maybe to ring fence an outbreak if you have an outbreak in a large city or to inoculate a certain portion of the population on an experimental basis,” Gottlieb said.
President Donald Trump delivered remarks on coronavirus vaccine development on Friday, as IJR previously reported.
He is confident the nation will open whether there is a vaccine or not.
“I just want to make something clear. It’s very important, vaccine or no vaccine, we’re back,” Trump said.
According to Trump, the United States is preparing to gear up production.
He was asked if the hardest-hit states would receive the vaccine first.
He replied, “I think that makes sense perhaps. You know perhaps it does, but, you know, I would say probably. But I think they’re all going to get well distributed.”