Experts Remain Cautiously Optimistic There Will Be Vaccine By End Of Year, But Some Have Doubts

Reuters: Reasonable To Expect Some Coronavirus Vaccine By Year-End, Pentagon Researcher Says
A senior U.S. Army vaccine researcher said on Tuesday it was reasonable to expect that some sort of coronavirus vaccine could be available to part of the U.S. population by the end of the year. Defense Secretary Mark Esper vowed on May 15 that the U.S. military and other parts of the government would, in collaboration with the private sector, produce a vaccine at scale to treat the American people and partners abroad by year-end. (Brunnstrom, O'Donnell and Steenhuysen, 6/2)

The Wall Street Journal: Fauci ‘Cautiously Optimistic’ About Coronavirus Vaccine
Anthony Fauci, a leading expert in the U.S. government’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, expressed cautious optimism on Tuesday that several successful vaccine candidates would prove effective “within a reasonable period of time” to fight the novel pathogen. But how long the protection from an eventual vaccine might last is “a big unknown,” he said via remote video during The Wall Street Journal’s Tech Health Conference. A short duration of protection could create additional challenges, he said. (Abbott and Loftus, 6/2)

CNBC: Dr. Anthony Fauci Says There's A Chance Coronavirus Vaccine May Not Provide Immunity For Very Long
White House health advisor Dr. Anthony Fauci said he worries about the “durability” of a potential coronavirus vaccine, saying there’s a chance it may not provide long-term immunity. If Covid-19 acts like other coronaviruses, “it likely isn’t going to be a long duration of immunity,” Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said during an interview Tuesday evening with JAMA Editor Howard Bauchner. (Lovelace Jr., 6/2)

Los Angeles Times: Can Operation Warp Speed Have A COVID-19 Vaccine This Year?
To capture the speed and audacity of its plan to field a coronavirus vaccine, the Trump administration reached into science fiction’s vault for an inspiring moniker: Operation Warp Speed. The vaccine initiative’s name challenges a mantra penned by an actual science fiction writer, Arthur C. Clarke: “Science demands patience.” Patience is essential for those who ply the science of vaccines. (Healy, 6/2)

The Wall Street Journal: Video: The Promise And Peril Of Fast-Tracking Coronavirus Vaccine Development
As the coronavirus continues to spread around the globe, companies and academic labs are racing to develop a vaccine that would help society get back to normal. But there could also be costs to moving too quickly. (Kammermann, 6/3)

The Washington Post: 7 In 10 Americans Would Be Likely To Get A Coronavirus Vaccine, Post-ABC Poll Finds
About 7 in 10 Americans say they would get a vaccine to protect against the novel coronavirus if immunizations were free and available to everyone, according to a Washington Post-ABC News poll. The nationwide survey finds that a majority of people of all political affiliations are interested in receiving such a vaccine. But the extent of that interest varies along partisan lines, with slightly more than 8 in 10 Democrats saying they would definitely or probably get vaccinated, compared with slightly fewer than 6 in 10 Republicans. Independents fall in between. (Goldstein and Clement, 6/2)

ABC News: 27% Unlikely To Be Vaccinated Against The Coronavirus; Republicans, Conservatives Especially: POLL 
A plurality definitely would get vaccinated (43%) and 28% say they probably would. The net, 71%, is much higher than the adult vaccination rate for the standard seasonal flu – 45% in the 2018-19 flu season, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (with a wide range by state, from 34 to 56%.) It’s much lower than the 2017 child vaccination rates for polio and measles/mumps/rubella, 93 and 92%, respectively. (Sparks and Langer, 6/2)

In other vaccination news —

The Associated Press: Monkeys, Ferrets Offer Needed Clues In COVID-19 Vaccine Race
The global race for a COVID-19 vaccine boils down to some critical questions: How much must the shots rev up someone’s immune system to really work? And could revving it the wrong way cause harm? Even as companies recruit tens of thousands of people for larger vaccine studies this summer, behind the scenes scientists still are testing ferrets, monkeys and other animals in hopes of clues to those basic questions — steps that in a pre-pandemic era would have been finished first. (Neergaard, 6/3)

Reuters: Exclusive: Lonza Sets New Goal To Make Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Ingredients
Lonza aims to speed completion of two commercial production lines for Moderna Inc’s trial COVID-19 vaccine so manufacturing could start four to six weeks earlier than planned if the project is successful, the Swiss drugmaker’s chairman said on Tuesday. (Miller, 6/2)

ABC News: Vaccine Paradox: Will 'Flattening The Curve' Stymie The Chances Of Developing A Coronavirus Vaccine Quickly? 
In recent weeks, cities and states across the country have seen a steady decline of COVID-19 cases. But even as many doctors breathe a quiet sigh of relief, those racing to develop a COVID-19 vaccine are growing increasingly worried this good news will stymie efforts to find a vaccine quickly. Vaccines can only be studied in places where outbreaks are ongoing. That's because the studies themselves rely on volunteers getting exposed to the virus to prove the vaccine actually works. (Salzman, 6/2)

ABC News: In The Race For A Vaccine, Children May Be Last To Be Vaccinated 
Even as scientists race to develop a COVID-19 vaccine, experts acknowledge that children could be among the last members of society to be vaccinated. At least 10 vaccines are being tested in people across the globe, with the United States' top infectious disease doctor, Anthony Fauci, optimistically estimating we could have a viable vaccine by early 2021. While preliminary data on these vaccines has been encouraging, children have been excluded from early studies. (Abdelmalek and Salzman, 6/2)