CLEVELAND — The race to find a vaccine continues and doctors say we are closer to the finish-line as dozens of companies work around the clock to get there first.
"We have made very tremendous progress in a short time,” said Cleveland Clinic pulmonologist Dr. Dan Culver. "We are in into the definitive trials now with two major vaccines in the US and two major vaccines elsewhere in the world and we hope to get answers sometime perhaps by the end of this year…about whether these vaccines are effective."
On Tuesday, the federal government reached a deal with the company Moderna Inc. to manufacture and deliver 100 million doses of the company's COVID-19 vaccine, if it's approved.
"The hope is that one of these trials becomes positive that we can move with relatively fast speed to distribute to the US population and to other groups around the world."
Dr. Culver addressed questions regarding safety, being that vaccines are being tested in record time.
"I don't think that's the case right here. I think all of the usual safety parameters and measurements that go into these clinical trials are happening now, this is why we think we think need to do phase 3 unlike what they are doing in Russia."
Russia is claiming first, in the race to find a vaccine. However, several top scientists including, Dr. Anthony Fauci of the National Institutes of Allergy & Infectious Disease have doubts.
"I hope that the Russians have actually, definitively proven that the vaccine is safe and effective, I seriously doubt that they've done that,” said Dr. Fauci.
"There will be more trials. I encourage people to get involved in the trials,” said Dr. Culver. "I think the first one that we will see come out most likely is going to be from the UK trial from AstraZeneca that may be out sometime this fall and then we just need to wait for these trial results to come in."