Dr Anthony Fauci, director of US' National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, says "a safe and effective vaccine for SARS-CoV-2 will be essential to stopping the spread of infection, reducing rates of morbidity and mortality, and preventing future outbreaks."

In his opening statement prepared for the House Energy and Commerce Committee and posted online, Fauci says NIAID is working with several partners — including Moderna and Rocky Mountain Laboratories — on a potential Covid-19 vaccine.

“The rigorous clinical testing required to establish vaccine safety and efficacy means that it might take some time for a licensed SARS-CoV-2 vaccine to be available to the general public,” he says.

Additionally, the National Institutes of Health is working to find therapeutics to fight coronavirus.

“The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) is leveraging the NCATS Pharmaceutical Collection, a compilation of every drug approved for human use by major regulatory agencies worldwide, and other collections of small molecules and compounds to identify potential SARS-CoV-2 therapeutics for further investigation,” Fauci says.