Former FDA commissioner suggests some coronavirus vaccine doses could be available in the fall
Former Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottleib has repeatedly said life in the United States won't truly be back to normal until a novel COVID-19 coronavirus vaccine is widely available. The most optimistic sources say that likely won't be for another 12 to 18 months, but in the meantime, Gottleib said, there could be some instances where limited doses could be accessible.
During a Sunday appearance on CBS' Face the Nation, Gottleib told host Margaret Brennan that if the coronavirus mounts a comeback in a specific U.S. city in the fall, there may be a protocol in which at least some of the potentially hundreds of thousands of doses of trial vaccines produced for testing could be provided to people. He said that wouldn't be the case for a national epidemic similar to the current situation, but the hope is that with a better understanding of how to combat the virus, epidemics will be more constrained should a second wave hit.
Gottleib also said there's a good chance China could beat the U.S. to the market with a vaccine, though he doesn't seem to be a big fan of what Beijing is tinkering with.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.
-
'Ignore the polls. They're stupid.'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
By Harold Maass, The Week US Published
-
The Finest Summer Flavours
By Sponsored Content Published
-
Today's political cartoons - May 20, 2024
Cartoons Monday's cartoons - flags flipped, Diddy dunked, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Texas dairy worker gets bird flu from infected cow
Speed Read The virus has been spreading among cattle in Texas, Kansas, Michigan and New Mexico
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Dengue hits the Americas hard and early
Speed Read Puerto Rico has declared an epidemic as dengue cases surge
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Covid four years on: have we got over the pandemic?
Today's Big Question Brits suffering from both lockdown nostalgia and collective trauma that refuses to go away
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
US bans final type of asbestos
Speed Read Exposure to asbestos causes about 40,000 deaths in the U.S. each year
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
The hollow classroom
Opinion Remote school let kids down. It will take much more than extra tutoring for kids to recover.
By Mark Gimein Published
-
Excess screen time is making children only see what is in front of them
Under the radar The future is looking blurry. And very nearsighted.
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Covid-19: what to know about UK's new Juno and Pirola variants
in depth Rapidly spreading new JN.1 strain is 'yet another reminder that the pandemic is far from over'
By Arion McNicoll, The Week UK Published
-
Long-term respiratory illness is here to stay
The Explainer Covid is not the only disease with a long version
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published