It is highly unlikely that it will be known whether there will be an effective vaccine until November, the director of the National Institutes of Health Francis Collins told the Senate Wednesday morning.
“Will it take place on a safe date? I may not tell you now,” Dr. Collins told Senator Bernie Sanders (D-VT) at a Senate aptitude committee hearing. “Certainly, we are waiting for this to happen a specific week before or after a specific date in early November is far beyond anything any scientist at this time can tell you and know what you are saying. “
Collins added that “science and science alone will set the path. Otherwise, I may not participate. “
As director of the NIH, Collins does not play a direct role in approving a imaginable COVID-19 vaccine.
Rather, this is up to the Food and Drug Administration, which oversees 3 COVID-19 vaccines that are currently undergoing massive Phase III trials.
President Trump has pressured the FDA to pass a vaccine before the November election in an effort to maximize his re-election. Some of the president’s advisers allegedly called the pre-election vaccine a “holy grail” for President Trump’s prospects for re-election.
Several states have told the TPM that they will refuse to distribute a vaccine that has completed the Phase III trials or has been reviewed through an independent panel of scientists.
Collins added: “I don’t know what’s going to happen. “
“I am cautiously confident that by the end of 2020 one of these vaccines will have emerged and will have been shown to be effective,” he added.