Coronavirus vaccines may not provide long term immunity, White House adviser warns

White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci has expressed worries over the “durability” of a potential coronavirus vaccine, noting that probability exists it may not provide long-term immunity.

Mr Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, made his observation during an interview with JAMA Editor Howard Bauchner.

He said, If Covid-19 acts like other coronaviruses, “it likely isn’t going to be a long duration of immunity,”
“When you look at the history of coronaviruses, the common coronaviruses that cause the common cold, the reports in the literature are that the durability of immunity that’s protective ranges from three to six months to almost always less than a year,” he said. “That’s not a lot of durability and protection.”

CNBC reports that The National Institutes of Health has been fast-tracking work with biotech firm Moderna on a potential vaccine to prevent Covid-19, which has infected more than 6.28 million people worldwide and killed at least 375,987, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.

Fauci said Tuesday that the biotech company expects to enroll about 30,000 individuals when it begins a phase 3 trial in July. He said there are at least four trials for potential vaccines that he is either directly or indirectly involved in.

Fauci said that by the beginning of 2021 “we hope to have” hundreds of millions of doses.

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