Fauci says COVID-19 vaccine trials could end early if results are overwhelmingly positive

Editor's Note

Anthony Fauci, MD, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the National Institutes of Health told the Kaiser Health News on September 1 that a COVID-19 vaccine could be available earlier than expected if clinical trial results are overwhelmingly positive.

An independent Data and Safety Monitoring Board has the authority to end trials weeks early if interim results are overwhelmingly positive or negative. If the Board finds that the data are so good right now that they can say a vaccine is safe and effective, researchers would have a “moral obligation” to end the trial early and make the vaccine available to everyone in the study and accelerate the process to give the vaccine to millions, Fauci says.

Manufacturers are now testing three COVID-19 vaccines in large-scale US trials.