Any possible COVID-19 vaccine backed by the “Operation Warp Speed” initiative of the Trump administration is unlikely to obtain a green light from regulators before November or December, given the time required for a large-scale clinical trial, the director of the National Institutes of Health said on Thursday.
“I would not expect to see, on the basis of what we know scientifically, that we would be at the point where the FDA could make such a judgment until considerably later than October 1,” Collins said, referring to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. “Maybe November or December would be my best bet.”
The U.S. government has helped fund the creation of many vaccines and treatments through the initiative to speed up access to COVID-19-fighting medicines. Last month, U.S. public health officials accused a group of independent scientists and ethicists of creating recommendations to decide who will receive the first dose of a vaccine once it is available.
