Fmr. CDC Official: 'we’re not cutting any corners' on COVID-19 vaccine development

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine,Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases Dr. William Schaffner joins Yahoo Finance’s Seana Smith to discuss the coronavirus, as a quarter of Americans say they are nervous about a vaccine, according to a new Reuters/Ipsos poll.

Video Transcript

SEANA SMITH: Let's turn to the latest on coronavirus virus. So safety is a priority as companies around the world scramble to find a treatment or a vaccine for coronavirus. And for more on this, I want to bring in Dr. William Schaffner. He's at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Vanderbilt and a former CDC official. And Dr. Schaffner, thanks so much for taking the time. We know you're extremely busy, so we really appreciate you joining the show this afternoon.

I want to start the conversation with a Reuters poll that caught our attention. And this is the fact that a quarter of Americans have little or no interest in taking a coronavirus vaccine. And some are voicing concern that the record pace in which we're trying to find a vaccine could compromise safety. My question to you is do you think safety could be compromised? Is that a valid concern at this point?

WILLIAM SCHAFFNER: Well, so far, we've been saying-- and it's nice to be with you-- that in the development of vaccines, we're working very hard. We're working very fast. But we're not cutting any corners, and particularly, safety. These are new vaccines and using new technologies, so all the more important to have a robust safety database before we start using it in 330 million people in this country alone.

So I think the investigators are a little ahead of the hype. I mean, they're putting a little hype out, getting people interested in the vaccine. That's very good. But we need more reassurance. People are hearing we're going very fast, but what they're-- what's going into their brain is they're cutting corners. And I would like to reassure people that we're not going to cut corners.

SEANA SMITH: So Dr. Schaffner, when you mentioned that, I guess what are you looking for in these trials? What's necessary, and what do we need to tell the American people in order to give them confidence in taking a potential vaccine for coronavirus?

WILLIAM SCHAFFNER: Well, all the vaccines-- and there are many that are currently under investigation-- will go into human trials. And the standard is, first, we have a small group. And Moderna sent its vaccine out just recently and said we have a small trial. The first thing you look at is, in this small group of people, safety-- if they get really sore arms, if they get fever, if they have any more symptoms throughout their body.

And the other is you take a little bit of blood and see that it actually worked as far as we can measure it in the blood. We measure those antibodies. Then a larger group, and then finally, an effectiveness trial. So it proceeds in stages, and at each time you make a decision to go on to the next stage, you have to be assured that the vaccine looks as though it's working and in the population study, has been safe. We all expect some sore arms, of course. But it shouldn't be much more than that.

SEANA SMITH: And Dr. Schaffner, what is the realistic timeline? Because we're getting these recent developments. You just mentioned Moderna. We all saw the news today about the US giving AstraZeneca a billion dollars for the development of its vaccine. So what do you think a realistic timeline is at this point?

WILLIAM SCHAFFNER: I think a realistic timeline is sometime next year. There are some predictions that it will be a little sooner than that. But as I always like to say, better to underpromise and over deliver than over promise and under deliver. Then everybody's disappointed, and they all are unhappy when the vaccine is delayed. And all those explanations then have to come out.

SEANA SMITH: And Dr. Schaffner, I also want to get your thoughts on potential treatments and specifically hydroxychloroquine because I know you have been pretty vocal about this over the last couple of weeks. So how enthusiastic do you think we should be about using hydroxychloroquine to treat coronavirus? We know that this is something that President Trump has touted time and time again, even said recently that he was using it as a preventative measure.

WILLIAM SCHAFFNER: So there's treatment and prevention. And as regards treatment, there are some signals to suggest it might work and some signals that said, ah, well, not so good. We have clinical trials underway about hydroxychloroquine in treatment. I would hope that we can continue to recruit patients into those clinical trials so we can get definitive answers.

There are also some trials to test whether hydroxychloroquine can prevent the development of infection from the beginning. Those trials need to proceed also. But I think patients ought to be entered into those trials. We ought to be prescribing this hydroxychloroquine for either treatment or prevention just kind of willy nilly at this moment. Because the data are very insecure.

SEANA SMITH: Dr. William Schaffner of Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, we really appreciate you taking the time. We know you're extremely busy, so thanks so much for joining us this afternoon.

WILLIAM SCHAFFNER: My pleasure.