白宫首席医疗顾问安东尼·福奇博士周日表示，儿童疫苗“非常有可能”在11月的第一周或第二周上市。
福奇告诉美国广播公司《本周》主播乔治·斯特凡诺普洛斯:“如果一切顺利，我们得到了监管机构的批准和疾病控制和预防中心的建议，在11月的头一两周内，5岁至11岁的儿童完全有可能(如果不是非常有可能的话)获得疫苗。
新数据显示，辉瑞的新冠肺炎疫苗对5-11岁儿童的症状性疾病有近91%的有效性。美国食品药品监督管理局的一个顾问小组将于周二开会讨论批准儿童疫苗，该疫苗目前仅适用于12岁及以上的儿童。
疾控中心周四晚间发布了针对特定人群的Moderna和强生疫苗增强剂的建议，为数百万美国人接受额外疫苗注射扫清了道路。疾控中心的授权是在美国食品和药物管理局周三发布的授权之后。
疾控中心还允许混合和匹配加强剂量——允许人们获得不同于初级疫苗接种的加强品牌。
福奇周日表示，新的建议不应该引起混乱，因为它们允许在助推器选择方面的灵活性。
“我们希望人们，如果有的话，能从原始产品中得到提升，”福奇说。“但如果不是这样，这就是我们所说的‘混合和匹配’的灵活性。”"
斯特凡诺普洛斯就接受不同于原始剂量的不同品牌注射是否能产生更好的保护向福奇施压。
“我读过一些研究，表明混合实际上更好。比如说，如果你第一次买了强生，最好第二次买Moderna，”Stephanopoulos问道。
“如果你看看诱导的抗体水平——如果你最初有J&J，你得到了，例如，一个Moderna或辉瑞，抗体水平，即蛋白质，你会预测会保护你，这些水平随着Moderna推进到J&J比J&J推进更高，”福奇回应道。“然而，这有点复杂，因为在J&J进行的临床试验中，第二剂J&J的临床效果相当显著。”
“那么，这真的成了一个问题，什么最方便?你觉得什么对你最好?”福奇补充说，建议人们咨询他们的医生。
斯蒂芬诺普洛斯还就美国在多大程度上资助武汉蝙蝠冠状病毒研究的争议向福奇施压，此前美国国家卫生研究院本周发布了一封信，内容涉及一家总部位于纽约的非营利组织对蝙蝠冠状病毒刺突蛋白的研究。该信称，分包商没有及时披露一些结果。
“现在，一些批评者和分析师抓住这一点说，你和其他人在美国资助这项所谓的功能增益研究的问题上误导了公众。国家卫生研究院说那是假的。我们的医疗单位支持这一点，”斯特凡诺普洛斯说。参议员兰德·保罗。，因争议而呼吁福奇开火。
“嗯，我显然完全不同意参议员保罗的观点。他完全错了。我和美国国家卫生研究院院长弗朗西斯·科林斯博士都没有对我们所做的事情撒谎或误导，”福奇回应道。
“我们从信中学到了什么?这是否表明我们发现的一些研究比我们知道的风险更大?”斯特凡诺普洛斯按下。
福奇说，他们知道风险是什么，“不可否认”他们应该及时提交进展报告，但这项研究导致新冠肺炎的暗示是“不合理的”和“分子上不可能的”
福奇解释说:“所有这些都是关于什么是功能增益，什么不是功能增益，这意味着这项研究导致了新型冠状病毒和新冠肺炎，乔治，毫不含糊地说，任何对病毒生物学和病毒系统发育有所了解的人都知道，那些被研究的病毒在分子上不可能变成新型冠状病毒，因为它们在分子上足够遥远，无论你对它们做了什么，它们永远不会变成新型冠状病毒。”。
“然而，当人们谈论功能增益时，他们会暗示，我认为这是不合理的，他们会说，‘好吧，也许那个研究导致了新型冠状病毒’，”福奇补充道。“你可以问任何一个有诚意的病毒学家，他们会非常明确地告诉你，这在分子水平上是不可能的。”
Wuhan research theory 'molecularly impossible': Fauci
Vaccines for children will "very likely" be available the first or second week of November, White House Chief Medical Adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said Sunday.
"If all goes well, and we get the regulatory approval and the recommendation from the CDC [Centers for Disease Control and Prevention], it's entirely possible if not very likely that vaccines will be available for children from 5 to 11 within the first week or two of November," Fauci told ABC "This Week" anchor George Stephanopoulos.
Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine is nearly 91% effective against symptomatic illness in children ages 5-11, according to new data. A Food and Drug Administration advisory panel will meet Tuesday to discuss authorizing the vaccine for children, which is currently only available to those ages 12 and older.
The CDC issued recommendations for both Moderna and Johnson & Johnson vaccine boosters for certain populations on Thursday evening, clearing the way for millions of Americans to receive additional shots. The CDC's authorization followed the FDA's, which it issued Wednesday.
The CDC is also permitting mix-and-match booster doses -- allowing people to get a different booster brand than was used for a primary vaccination.
Fauci said Sunday the new recommendations should not cause confusion, as they allow for flexibility in booster selection.
"We would hope that people, if available, would get the boost from the original product," Fauci said. "But if not, there's the flexibility of what we're calling 'mixing and matching.'"
Stephanopoulos pressed Fauci on whether receiving a different brand shot from the original dose yields better protection.
"I have read some studies that suggest that it's actually better to mix. Like, say, if you got the Johnson & Johnson the first time around, it's better to get Moderna the second time," Stephanopoulos asked.
"If you look at the level of antibodies that are induced -- if you originally had J&J, and you get, for example, a Moderna or a Pfizer, the level of antibodies, namely, the proteins that you would predict would protect you, those levels go up higher with the Moderna boost to J&J than the J&J boost," Fauci responded. "However, it's a little bit more complicated, because, in the clinical trial that J&J did, the clinical effect of the second dose of J&J was quite substantial."
"So, it really becomes an issue of, what's the most convenient? What do you feel is best for you?" Fauci added, recommending that people consult their physician.
Stephanopoulos also pressed Fauci on the controversy over to what extent the U.S. was funding bat coronavirus research in Wuhan after the NIH released a letter this week about a New York City-based nonprofit's research on bat coronavirus spike proteins. The letter states that the subcontractor had not disclosed some results in a timely manner.
"Now, some critics and analysts have seized on that to say you and others have misled the public about U.S. funding of this so-called gain-of-function research. The NIH says that's false. Our medical unit backs that up," Stephanopoulos said. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has called for Fauci's firing over the controversy.
"Well, I obviously totally disagree with Senator Paul. He's absolutely incorrect. Neither I nor Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the NIH lied or misled about what we've done," Fauci responded.
"What did we learn from the letter? Does it show that some of the research we were finding was riskier than we know?" Stephanopoulos pressed.
Fauci said they knew what the risk was and there's "no denial" that they should have put their progress report in a timely manner, but that the implication that the research led to COVID-19 is "unconscionable" and "molecularly impossible."
"There's all of this concern about what's gain-of-function or what's not, with the implication that that research led to SARS-CoV-2, and COVID-19, which, George, unequivocally anybody that knows anything about viral biology and phylogeny of viruses know that it is molecularly impossible for those viruses that were worked on to turn into SARS-CoV-2 because they were distant enough molecularly that no matter what you did to them, they could never, ever become SARS-CoV-2," Fauci explained.
"And yet when people talk about gain-of-function, they make that implication which I think is unconscionable to do, to say, 'Well, maybe that research led to SARS-CoV-2'," Fauci added. "You can ask any person of good faith who's a virologist, and they will tell you, absolutely clearly, that that would be molecularly impossible."
