Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, admitted recently that he is not confident of having an effective vaccine in the near future. 

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, testifies during the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis hearing in Washington, D.C.

Dr. Anthony Fauci is the country's leading infectious disease expert. He also plays a crucial role in the White House COVID-19 Task Force since the pandemic began. His comments and suggestions to mitigate the virus are highly valued and respected. 

As the Director of the National Institue of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, he oversees extensive research portfolios of basic and applied research to prevent, diagnose, and treat established infectious diseases. That includes respiratory infections, tuberculosis, malaria, and more.

Today, Dr. Fauci is facing another challenge as the country continues to struggle in combating the infectious and deadly COVID-19. The country remains to have the highest number of infections across the globe with around 4.9 million according to the official tally of Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. 

In a 45-minute interview with Dr. Fauci recently with Ashish Jha, MD, the incoming dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University, he shared insights about the global pandemic and possible paths forward. However, he warned that he is not confident of having an effective vaccine because of the time that it is developed and produced.

Dr. Fauci explained that "confidence" without essential data to support and prove the claim is meaningless. This means that any "confidence" he could have without any data but has not yet been tested is purely speculative. 

"You should never feel confident when you're dealing with something that requires a randomized placebo-controlled trial to prove it. You feel confident when you start to see the data come in. I'm not confident in guessing or surmising," Fauci added.  

Even though Dr. Anthony Fauci is not confident to have an effective vaccine at the end of this year or in the near future, he should not be mistaken. He also shared that he feels cautiously optimistic about developing the COVID-19 vaccine in a timely manner. 

He stressed out as well that confidence should be reserved for things that have successfully passed the testing and with corresponding data to support and prove the claim. After all, this is the reason why rigorous testing is necessary. 

Fauci who has always been updating the country about the COVID-19 and vaccines said, "When you look at the early response both in the animal data-but importantly in human Phase One-it induces a response with neutralizing antibodies that's at least as good, if not better, than the plasma of convalescent people." 

It can be remembered that Dr. Anthony Fauci also admitted last month during the Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing that there is no guarantee that the country will have a safe and effective COVID-19 vaccine, according to a published article in Latin Post.

The fight against the infectious and deadly COVID-19 is still far from reality even if the vaccine will be available. As Dr. Fauci said in the past few days that the virus could no longer be eradicated nut it an only be controlled.  

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