NIH Director 'Guardedly Optimistic' About COVID-19 Vaccine Approval By End Of 2020
Category: Health, Science & Technology
Via: tig • 4 years ago • 7 commentsBy: James Doubek and Steve Inskeep
Dr. Collins is Dr Fauci's boss. As far as expertise goes, Dr. Collins is one of the leading experts on human biology having lead the successful sequencing of the human genome. He currently spends all of his time on the coronavirus.
Francis S. Collins, M.D., Ph.D. was appointed the 16 th Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) by President Barack Obama and confirmed by the Senate. He was sworn in on August 17, 2009. On June 6, 2017, President Donald Trump announced his selection of Dr. Collins to continue to serve as the NIH Director. In this role, Dr. Collins oversees the work of the largest supporter of biomedical research in the world, spanning the spectrum from basic to clinical research.
Dr. Collins is a physician-geneticist noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the international Human Genome Project, which culminated in April 2003 with the completion of a finished sequence of the human DNA instruction book. He served as director of the National Human Genome Research Institute at NIH from 1993-2008.
Before coming to NIH, Dr. Collins was a Howard Hughes Medical Institute investigator at the University of Michigan. He is an elected member of the National Academy of Medicine and the National Academy of Sciences, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in November 2007, and received the National Medal of Science in 2009. In 2020, he was elected as a Foreign Member of the Royal Society (UK) and was also named the 50th winner of the Templeton Prize, which celebrates scientific and spiritual curiosity.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Dr. Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, is pictured on Sept. 9 on Capitol Hill. Collins says a vaccine would not be approved for emergency use before late November at the earliest.
Coronavirus cases appear headed for a new surge in the U.S., which could eclipse the explosion of cases in July.
Much of the new surge is driven by cases in the Midwest and Great Plains states.
Dr.Francis Collins, director of the National Institutes of Health, says "it was all sadly somewhat predictable."
Hospitalizations are up in more than 40 states. The rising number of cases has not led to a corresponding rise in the number of deaths — yet.
But Collins tells NPR's Steve Inskeep on Morning Edition that an increase in the number of fatalities will soon follow, as it has previously when cases and hospitalizations went up.
"All of this, I'm afraid, happens because we have not succeeded in this country in introducing really effective public health measures, those simple things that we all could be doing," he says. "Wear your mask, keep that 6-foot distance and don't congregate indoors whatever you do, and wash your hands. It's so simple. And yet people are tired of it. And yet the virus is not tired of us."
Collins talked with NPR about the status of vaccine development, the White House coronavirus task force and President Trump's comments about Dr. Anthony Fauci, the leading infectious disease expert on the task force. Here are excerpts of the interview:
You see the end of the year as within the realm of possibility [for approving a vaccine], but not anything we should plan on.
This is a really tough scientific challenge. We are doing everything possible to try to develop and test the vaccines in the most rigorous way. But you never know. Anybody who's worked on vaccines before will tell you there are things that happen.
And by the way, two of these trials are currently on hold because of a concern about a possible safety issue. People should be reassured by that, that that means we're really looking at the safety issues with great scrutiny. But that does say that those two trials are of somewhat uncertain status. And we'll have to see what happens in the coming days about reactivating those if they are judged to be safe after all.
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Dr. Collins is a highly respected scientist who has his finger on the pulse of this pandemic (full time effort). His assessment is that it is possible to have a vaccine by the end of 2020.
Thanks to the leadership and support of Trump.
America needs to stay with a proven winner
The category is "Health, Science & Technology", not politics.
Polls this past weekend indicate dropping confidence ( as low as 50% ) who will refuse the vaccine(s) out of fear that they were rushed without the standard length of testing for side effects.
No question that this was rushed; apprehension is sensible.
I may not have a choice when the vaccine comes out. My workplace will probably force us to get it
I am going to pay attention to the assessments of demonstrably competent professionals such as Dr. Collins regarding the efficacy and safety of the vaccine. We should get a decent update by January 2021.