Fauci: COVID-19 vaccine could lead to ‘breakthrough’ in HIV fight

Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, told OZY’s Carlos Watson that the work done on COVID-19 vaccines could help develop a vaccine for HIV.

“I think the success that we’ve had with developing spectacularly successful COVID-19 vaccines might help us with the breakthrough of developing an HIV vaccine,” Fauci told Watson in response to a question about what medical breakthrough might be seen as s result of COVID-19 work over the last 18 months.

Fauci said in the interview during the virtual OZY Fest that “you can’t tell” when an HIV vaccine could be developed and it could be a “few years.”

Along with being at the head of the coronavirus fight for the past 18 months, Fauci has done a lifetime of work on HIV and AIDS research.

The success of the COVID-19 vaccine led the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to say this week that vaccinated people do not need to wear a mask in public anymore. 

The vaccine was created and distributed much more quickly than others like it. Vaccines can take years to produce; the COVID-19 vaccines won FDA approval about a year after the first cases of COVID-19 were discovered and less than a year after much of the United States was locked down.

Millions are now getting vaccinated against the virus as everyone in the U.S. above the age of 16 is eligible for the shot.