Washington: Anthony Fauci, the top infectious diseases expert in the United States, has warned about the risk of rushing through a vaccine without testing it properly first.
Fauci, who is director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told Reuters News Agency that giving approval to one potential vaccine would make it “difficult, if not impossible for other vaccines to enrol people in their trial.”
Scientists and health experts are concerned US President Donald Trump might pressure the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the country’s main regulator, to approve a vaccine as a way to boost his chances in November’s presidential election.
On Sunday, Trump signed emergency use authorisation for COVID-19 plasma before the treatment had been properly assessed in clinical trials.
“It’s absolutely paramount that you definitively show that a vaccine is safe and effective, both” Fauci said.
