Coronavirus vaccine could use ‘novel technology.’ Here’s why Fauci is ‘not particularly’ concerned

As the Moderna coronavirus vaccine candidate enters Phase 3 human trials in conjunction with the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, the head of the institution, Anthony Fauci, said Monday he is “not particularly concerned” about the safety risk of a potential vaccine.

CNBC reports that the vaccine utilizes Messenger ribonucleic acid, known as mRNA molecules, to jumpstart a cellular immune response to the virus’s pathogens and fight the coronavirus when it enters the body. 

Moderna, one of the pharmaceutical companies that received extra funding from the White House for its coronavirus vaccine candidate under Operation Warp Speed, has moved quickly in its use of mRNA, though the technique has never been used to make a successful vaccine before. 

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Still, Fauci says he is not worried about the fact that the vaccine uses new technology.

“It’s a novel technology. We are certainly aware of the fact that ... there’s not as much experience with this type of platform as there are with other standards,” Fauci told reporters on a conference call with National Institutes of Health Director Francis Collins. “I’m not particularly concerned. But I don’t want a lack of severe concern to get in the way that we are keeping an open mind to look for any possible deleterious effects as we get into and through the phase three trial.”

The trial features 30,000 human test subjects across 87 locations, divided into a control group and a trial group. The trial group will receive two 100 microgram injections of the vaccine while the control group will receive a placebo. Both will receive the two injections about 4 weeks apart.

Fauci said that scientists will monitor the participants in the trial group for a year to observe any effects or safety risks of the vaccine. 

If the vaccine succeeds, it could become the first mRNA vaccine to be approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 

Researchers like Fauci are aiming for at least a 60 percent efficacy rate, which translates to the vaccine reducing a person’s risk of a COVID-19 infection by 60 percent. 

“Obviously, we would like to see it much, much higher. But 60 percent is the standard that you do for the cutoff. That’s not unusual,” he noted. “I would like to see the highest percentage that we could possibly get.”

As for when a vaccine might be ready for the public, the infectious disease expert is standing by his usual timeline: early 2021.

“It is likely that at the beginning of next year we would have tens of millions of doses available,” Fauci said. “I think as we get into 2021, several months in, that you would have vaccines that would be widely available.” 

He also noted that some drug manufacturers have estimated even more could be ready at that time. Whether Moderna’s vaccine works or not, however, could be learned by October, but Fauci anticipates results around November.

Moderna itself said it is slated to deliver a range from 500 million and 1 billion doses per year in 2021.

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