Fauci: Early Vaccines Only Stop Illness, Won't Stop Spread

Dr. Anthony Fauci says early vaccines for the novel coronavirus will only prevent symptoms, not block the virus.

"The primary thing you want to do is that if people get infected, prevent them from getting sick, and if you prevent them from getting sick, you will ultimately prevent them from getting seriously ill," Fauci said at Yahoo Finance's All Markets Summit on Monday.

"What I would settle for, and all of my colleagues would settle for, is the primary endpoint to prevent clinically recognizable disease."

The earliest a COVID-19 vaccine is expected to be ready for FDA authorizations is the end of November. A handful of companies have started testing in their vaccines in late-stage trials, though none has yet to win regulatory approvals.

Pfizer, one of the companies on the cutting edge of a coronavirus vaccine, said Tuesday it plans to apply for emergency-use authorization from the FDA for its COVID-19 vaccine in November, once safety milestones are achieved.

The company has now enrolled nearly all of the planned 44,000 participants worldwide. Nearly 36,000 had received the second shot of the two-dose vaccine as of Monday.

• All-In Push for Vaccine in US Raises Risk Virus Will Linger
• Medicare and Medicaid to Cover Cost of Coronavirus Vaccine