Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), has recently told biotech executives that COVID-19, the infection caused by the new coronavirus, has led to global damage, exposing disturbing racial disparities.
Talking to biotech executives, Dr. Fauci said, “In a period of four months, it has devastated the whole world. And it isn’t over yet.”
His discussion was conducted remotely and recorded during a conference held by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO).
The NIAID head said an efficiently transmitted disease could spread globally in six months or a year; however, coronavirus took about a month. He said the rapid spread is due to the contagiousness of the virus and due to extensive world travel by people infected by COVID019.
Currently, there is no vaccine or approved drug for COVID-19. Experts believe that a vaccine is the best hope to stop or at least slow down the pandemic. Dr. Fauci is optimistic about having at least one successful vaccine by early 2021, adding that it still “a work in progress.”
Dr. Fauci, who spent much of his life studying HIV/AIDS, said the disease HIV causes is “really simple compared to what’s going on with COVID-19.”
He said the major difference is the new coronavirus’ broad range of severity – from patients being asymptomatic to having a critical illness, leading to death. He also explained that in COVID, there is an intense immune response, lung damage, and high incidence of clotting disorder, causing strokes.
He said, “Oh my goodness. Where is it going to end? We’re still at the beginning of really understanding.”
Dr. Fauci described the coronavirus pandemic as “shining a very bright light on something we’ve known for a very long time,” the health disparities and its impact on people of color, particularly African Americans.
Dr. Fauci also said that access to vaccines would probably not help if the government tried to impose price controls on drug manufacturers. He said, “If you try to enforce things on a company that has multiple different opportunities to do different things, they will walk away.”
