Fauci says many European countries locked down more completely than the US

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told lawmakers Friday that he hopes China and Russia are "actually testing the vaccine before they are administering the vaccine to anyone."

Speaking during a House subcommittee hearing, Fauci said "claims of having a vaccine ready to distribute before you do testing, I think, is problematic at best."

Fauci explained the US is moving in a "rapid" but "prudent" way.

"We are going very quickly. I do not believe that there will be vaccines so far ahead of us that we will have to depend on other countries to get us vaccines. I believe the program that is being sponsored by us right now, and being directed and implemented by us, is going at a very rapid speed — prudent, but rapid," Fauci said.

Some context: CNN learned earlier this week that Russia intends to be the first in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine, in less than two weeks. And despite concerns about its safety, effectiveness and over whether the country has cut essential corners in development, interest in the vaccine has already been expressed by at least 20 countries and some US companies, Russian officials say.

Officials told CNN on Wednesday that they were working toward a date of August 10 or earlier for approval of the vaccine, which has been created by the Moscow-based Gamaleya Institute. It will be approved for public use, with frontline healthcare workers getting it first, they said.

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Anthony Fauci, during the Coronavirus Crisis hearing on July 31, in Washington, DC. Erin Scott/Getty Images

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told lawmakers Friday that he doesn't think it’s a dream to say that a coronavirus vaccine could be ready by the end of the year or early 2021.

"I know to some people this seems like it is so fast that there might be compromising of safety and scientific integrity, and I can tell you that is absolutely not the case. The rapidity with which we're doing it is as a result of very different technologies."

Fauci said early data from Phase 1 of the vaccine being developed by Moderna and NIAID was very favorable, but he added there are also other vaccines the government is involved with.

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Robert Redfield speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC on July 31. Erin Scott/AFP/Getty Images

As the start of the school year creeps closer and some states continue to see surges in cases, Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, reiterated his stance that schools should reopen this fall.

Redfield outlined some of these consequences, including student access to mental health services.

"Clearly we're seeing less reporting of it, and again, I think it's a direct consequence of the school closures. 7.1 million kids get their mental health services at school, they get nutritional support as we've mentioned from schools," he said.

"It's really important to realize it's not public health versus the economy about school opening, it's public health versus public health of the K-through-12 to get the schools open. We've got to do it safely and we have to be able to accommodate," Redfield added.

Dr. Anthony Fauci echoed Redfield's comments later on in the hearing, saying that a "default position despite the fact that we have to have flexibility" would be to try "as best as we possibly can in the context of the safety of the children and the teachers" to reopen the schools.

Fauci pointed to the psychological consequences on children and "downstream unintended consequences on families" as important reasons for aiming to open educational establishments.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Friday that 30,000 individuals have started to enroll in the first Phase 3 clinical trial of a coronavirus vaccine in the United States which started Monday. 

The investigational vaccine was developed by the biotechnology company Moderna and NIAID. 

"As I mentioned, the Phase 3 trial has already started; 30,000 individuals were already starting to enroll," Fauci said during his opening statement for the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.

Fauci also said that, as of last night, more than 250,000 people have registered interest in trials for a coronavirus vaccine. He asked individuals who have expressed interest to go to coronaviruspreventionnetwork.org "to make sure that we have a diverse representation."

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Dr. Anthony Fauci was asked why Europe has been able to largely contain the virus while the US has seen a rise in new cases.

Fauci said it was a complex question, but described some of the contributing factors. He first pointed out that many European countries locked down more wholly than the US.

However, "when you actually look at what we did, even though we shut down, even though it created a great deal of difficulty, we really functionally shut down only about 50% in the sense of the totality of the country," Fauci added.

He also noted that some states had better success at following reopening guidelines than others.

"Some were followed very carefully and some were not," he said.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, told lawmakers that while one can "never guarantee the safety or effectiveness" of a vaccine, he is "cautiously optimistic" that the coronavirus vaccine being developed by Moderna and his agency will be successful.

"Because in the early studies with humans, the phase one study, it clearly showed that individuals who are vaccinated mounted a neutralizing antibody response that was at least comparable and in many respects better than what we see in convalescent serum from individuals who have recovered from Covid-19," Fauci added.

Some background: The phase three clinical trial of the vaccine discussed by Fauci began Monday.

The investigational vaccine was developed by the biotechnology company Moderna and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health. The trial will be conducted at nearly 100 US research sites, according to Moderna. The first patient was dosed at a site in Savannah, Georgia.

The trial is expected to enroll about 30,000 adult volunteers and evaluates the safety of the Moderna/NIH vaccine and whether it can prevent symptomatic Covid-19 after two doses, among other outcomes.

Volunteers will receive either two 100-microgram injections of the vaccine or a placebo about 28 days apart. Investigators and participants will not know who has received the vaccine.

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, outlined four key points to the National Institutes of Health's strategic plan to addressing Covid-19.

The four areas the agency has focused on are:

Today's hearing is centered on the need to develop a national plan to contain coronavirus.

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The House subcommittee's ranking member, Rep. Steve Scalise, dismissed assertions that the US lacks a national plan to combat coronavirus and called the hearing's title a "false political narrative."

In his opening remarks, Scalise held up a stack of documents he said were a few of the guidelines published by the Trump administration and his agencies to show states how to safely reopen. The Republican said that those claiming the US does not have a plan perhaps have not read the "different components" of the plan.

"To show nursing homes how to care for their patients, which by the way, if all governors would have followed those guidelines, thousands more seniors in nursing homes would be alive today if just five governors would have followed your plan that was developed by President Trump and is being carried out by you and your teams effectively every day," he said. "Let me thank you on behalf of the millions of American people who are alive today who wouldn't be alive if you weren't carrying out President Trump's effective plan to keep Americans safe."

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The House select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis is holding a hearing this morning on "The Urgent Need For A National Plan To Contain The Coronavirus.” The panel just began.

"My goal today is simple. To hear from our nation's top public health experts on what steps we need to take to stop the unnecessary deaths of more Americans, " Chair James Clyburn, a Democrat from South Carolina, said in his opening remarks.

"Regrettably, nearly six months after this virus claimed its first American life, the federal government has still not yet developed and implemented a national strategy to protect the American people," Clyburn said.

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, is testifying in person.

The other witnesses include Dr. Robert Redfield, director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Admiral Dr. Brett Giroir, assistant secretary for health at the US Department of Health and Human Services. They are also testifying in person.

The health experts are expected to be grilled on Covid-19 testing, school reopenings and the development of a vaccine.

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