A House committee is hearing testimony on Tuesday from key Trump administration officials who have been working on the response to the coronavirus pandemic, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, one of the nation’s leading infectious disease experts. This hearing is a hybrid of in-person and remote.
Fauci told the panel that the National Institutes of Health was “mounting a major effort” in collaborating with public and private partners to conduct vaccine trials “that harmonize with each other.” He said multiple vaccines are being developed, and that one vaccine would enter phase three of testing in July.
“Although you can never guarantee, at all, the safety and efficacy of a vaccine until you actually test it in the field, we feel cautiously optimistic,” Fauci said.
Fauci, Food and Drug Administration commissioner Dr. Stephen Hahn, assistant Health Secretary Admiral Brett Giroir and Centers for Disease Control director Dr. Robert Redfield are testifying Tuesday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on the administration’s response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Giroir said that the the U.S. was conducting around 500,000 tests per day, with the expectation that 40 to 50 million tests will be conducted per month by the fall. Giroir also announced that Morehouse School of Medicine would be granted $40 million to investigate and address the racial disparities in the spread of the pandemic.
Redfield said in his opening statement that the most effective methods of combatting the pandemic are social distancing, wearing face coverings and hand washing. He also said that CDC is investigating why and how the pandemic is overwhelmingly affecting Black Americans.
Redfield raised concerns that a second wave of the coronavirus could coincide with flu season.
“I encourage the American people to be prepared and to embrace flu vaccinations with confidence,” Redfield said.
More than 2.2 million people in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, the highest number of any country in the world, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins. More than 120,000 Americans have died.
Vice President Mike Pence, who leads the White House Coronavirus Task Force, said Monday on a call with governors that the media has “focused on the new cases number.” He told them that a “percentage of that is reflective of an extraordinary national success in testing and that we are identifying people.” At a rally on Saturday, Mr. Trump called increased testing a “double-edge sword” and told the crowd, “I said to my people, slow the testing down please.”
Since Saturday’s rally, the White House has received backlash about the comments. One senior White House official told CBS News those comments were made “in jest,” while acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf told CBS News’ “Face the Nation” that “I think that what you heard from the president was frustration.” On Monday, Pence called the president’s remark a “passing observation.”
