Fauci said that to fight the global virus, there must be more than one vaccine candidate. (File)
The new coronavirus is likely to spread through the air to some extent, the senior US infectious disease official said Friday, one day after the World Health Organization called for new studies on how the virus is transmitted.
“One more question on aerosols but probably some degree of aerosol,” Anthony Fauci, head of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during a panel session at a conference. COVID-19 organized by the International AIDS Society.
Fauci said on Thursday that it was a “reasonable assumption” that airborne transmission was occurring even though there was not much solid evidence behind it. WHO called for more studies on the issue.
The number of cases in the United States has reached more than 3 million, as the states that quickly reopened bars and restaurants reported a large increase.
Fauci said that to fight the global virus, there must be more than one vaccine candidate. Vaccine manufacturers aim to have hundreds of millions of doses ready by the start of next year and up to 1 billion in some cases, he said.
“The companies we are dealing with are already in discussions to start preparing hundreds of millions of doses and some of the companies promise they will have a billion doses in a year or two,” said Fauci.
The United States has invested billions of dollars in the vaccination efforts of Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Novavax and AstraZeneca. J&J said it was targeting 1 billion doses. Pfizer and BioNTech are also continuing a vaccine and have announced their goal of having 1.2 billion doses by the end of 2021.
(With the exception of the title, this story was not edited by GalacticGaming staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
