Testifying about safe business and school reopenings, Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned that the United States could see a daily COVID-19 case count of 100,000 if the current surge of cases continues.
Fauci testified alongside Robert Redfield, MD, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); Stephen Hahn, MD, Food and Drug Administration (FDA) commissioner; and Admiral Brett Giroir, MD, assistant secretary for health. Redfield said hospitalization rates have been going up in 12 states, and the daily death toll is now rising in Arizona. According to an analysis by the Washington Post, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, South Carolina, Montana, Georgia, and California hospitalization seven-day averages are up at least 25 percent.
At the hearing, Hahn explained new FDA guidance on COVID-19 vaccine development and said that in order to be approved, any COVID-19 vaccine will have to prevent the disease or decrease its severity in at least 50 percent of the people who receive it.
The group also warned lawmakers that they were currently working on plans to increase vaccine confidence among Americans and said they were worried that growing anti-vaccine sentiment would hinder a successful rollout of a COVID-19 vaccine in early 2021.
Fauci also again said that though he is cautiously optimistic, there is no guarantee the United States will have a safe and effective vaccine within the next year.
