Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and White House health advisor, spoke on Tuesday at a conference held virtually by the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) on the coronavirus pandemic and the pharmaceutical industry's race for a vaccine.
In his moderated speech, Fauci highlighted how the novel coronavirus just "took over the planet" in a manner of months, according to CNBC, stating: "That's millions and millions of infections worldwide. And it isn't over yet. And it's condensed in a very, very small time frame. You know, first notice at the end of December, hit China in January, hit the rest of the world in February, March April, May, early June."
Despite the rapid global spread still continues, Fauci reiterated that he is confident in the pharmaceutical industry and its ability to develop a vaccine for the deadly virus.
"There's going to be more than one winner in the vaccine field because we're going to need vaccines for the entire world," Fauci added. "Billions and billions of doses. So I'm almost certain that we're going to have multiple candidates that make it to the goal line, get approval, and get widely used."
As of June 9, there are 10 vaccine candidates in clinical trials and 126 candidates in preclinical evaluation, according to the World Health Organization.
Total Global Cases: Over 7.3 Million
Total Deaths: Over 412,000
Total Recovered: Over 3.59 Million
W.H.O. Mix Up
The World Health Organization (W.H.O.) clarified the agency's previous stance on asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19 that led to a lot of confusion. On Monday, Dr. Maria Van Kerkove, W.H.O.'s head of emerging diseases and zoonosis unit, stated that asymptomatic spread of the virus was "very rare," leading many to question how the agency had come to this conclusion despite contradictory evidence previously found within the scientific community.
"I was responding to a question at the press conference. I wasn't stating a policy of W.H.O. or anything like that," Kerkove stated over a Questions & Answers livestream on Tuesday. "And in that, I used the phrase 'very rare' and I think that that's misunderstanding to state that asymptomatic transmission globally is very rare. I was referring to a small subset of studies."
Kerkove stated that the majority of transmissions of the coronavirus happen from those who are displaying symptoms. She added that those who can transmit the virus who later develop symptoms are classified by the global health agency as pre-symptomatic, not asymptomatic.
W.H.O.'s Dr. Mike Ryan, head of the agency's emergencies program, stated during the livestream that asymptomatic and pre-symptomatic transmission of COVID-19 is a question still open for debate as scientists around the world study the virus.
"There is much to be answered on this. There is much that is unknown. It's clear that both symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals are part of the transmission cycle. The question is what is the relative contribution of each group to the overall number of cases," Ryan added.
New Gilead Study
According to a study published in the journal Nature on Tuesday, Gilead Sciences'
In the study, 12 monkeys were infected with the virus, and half were giving early treatment with remdesivir while the other half were left untreated. Researchers found that those who received the antiviral did not show signs of respiratory disease and had reduced damage to their lungs when compared to the untreated group. The study's authors also noted that the amount of the virus in the lungs of the remdesivir group was also lower.
The authors concluded that the drug could be used as an early treatment to prevent pneumonia in human COVID-19 patients.
