National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Dr. Anthony Fauci said Wednesday on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports” that by November or December, there could be a “safe and effective vaccine” for coronavirus.

Fauci said, “I’m certain that other countries will be successful in developing vaccines, but I’m also fairly optimistic that we also will have at least one or more candidates that will be available for the American people.

Mitchell said, “The president said that a vaccine is possible before the election. Vice President Pence has said we are a nation of miracles. Is there a risk of promising too much or even of pushing an emergency use authorization for a vaccine before it has been fully proved safe and effective? I know authorizations have been used in the past for vaccines, but that’s the normal time frame of years of study for a vaccine and testing and randomized testing, and we’ve seen the push for emergency use before things are properly vetted.”

Fauci said, “Yeah, I mean, obviously that’s a concern of many people. Right now, if you look at the timetable of the vaccine candidates that we’re involved with, we have three now that are in phase 3 trials. At least a couple of them are more than half completely enrolled. So things are really right on target. As I mentioned many times, and there’s no reason for me to change this projection, I think we’ll know by the end of this year, November or December, that we do have a safe and effective vaccine. And I’m cautiously optimistic, although, you know, you can never guarantee when you’re dealing with vaccines. But I feel cautiously optimistic that we will have that.”

Mitchell interjected, “But that’s the end of the year. That’s not November 3.”

Fauci continued, “That’s the projection, Andrea. Is it conceivable that you may get an answer before then? Yes, it is conceivable that if you get enough infections in the trial that you will get an answer. But I’ve always said, and I’ll repeat it now, that I will not be satisfied regarding the release of a vaccine unless we know that it is safe and effective, both safe and effective. If we get a vaccine that’s safe and effective, I would feel fully comfortable that that’s a vaccine that could be released for the American people to use.”

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