A coronavirus vaccine announced by the University of Pittsburgh is "one of several candidates," but the development and release of a successful vaccine remains at least a year away because of the testing that is involved, and mitigation is still the best tool for fighting the deadly threat, Dr. Anthony Fauci said Friday.
"(There is) one that we've been dealing with where we already are in phase one trials and are two-thirds of the way through the phase one trial," Fauci said on Fox News' "Fox and Friends." "You then go into the next phase...that whole process still is going to take at least a year to year and a half and any candidate that is out there will likely be on the same timeline."
He reiterated that the only tool that really works right now is mitigation efforts such as social distancing, and efforts already are showing an effect.
"It's going to get worse, much worse before it gets better," Fauci said. "There's no doubt in my mind, or anyone, who knows anything about this, that the mitigation activities, the physical separation that we're doing clearly is having a positive impact. You don't see it dramatically yet, because there's the dynamic with the virus doing what the virus wants to do, and we're trying to suppress it with mitigation but there's no doubt it's having an effect."
Meanwhile, an antibody test has been approved by the FDA, but that shows the response of a body to the virus and could indicate the person is no longer transmitting it, but care must be taken because there can be an overlap, said Fauci.
The doctor also commented that he believes "wet markets" such as the one in China where the current epidemic began should be shut down "right away."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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