Dr. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious disease expert in the US, told a House committee on Tuesday that a COVID-19 vaccine is still on track to be available by the end of the year or by early 2021. Fauci also added that President Trump has never instructed the members of the White House task force to slow testing efforts across the country.
Dr. Anthony Fauci said:
“I and my colleagues, to my knowledge, I know that none of us have ever been told to slow down on testing. That is just a fact. In fact, we will be doing more testing as you have heard from the admiral. We will specifically identify people to isolate and contact trace, but more surveillance if you want to get your arms around and understand exactly what is going on in community spread. We are going to be doing more testing, not less.”
When asked by the House lawmakers on Tuesday if President Donald Trump had asked officials to “slow the testing down,” Dr. Fauci responded, “To my knowledge, none of us have ever been told to slow down on testing. That just is a fact.” Fauci said testing and contact surveillance were fundamental to “understand exactly what’s going on in community spread.”
“So, it’s the opposite. We’re going to be doing more testing, not less.” CDC director Robert Redfield added:
“As Dr. Fauci said, all of us continue to be committed to increasing timely access to testing. We have made marked improvement. We still have a ways to go. One of the key things as Tony mentioned is expanding surveillance because of the non-symptomatic nature of the infection. We are looking at ways it could substantially impact testing. We are doing 500,000 or 600,000 tests a day. We are continuing to try and enhance testing.”
You can watch his opening statements in the video below.
