Coronavirus Info Event: Renowned Expert To Answer Queries

AUSTIN, TX — A renowned Texas vaccine expert will participate in a livestream later this month answering participants' questions on the new coronavirus pandemic, officials announced Wednesday.

Texas Tribune is organizing the interview with Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, scheduled for 8 a.m. March 26

According to an event website, Hotez will answer pressing questions about the respiratory illness outbreak, the Texans most at risk and the pressure on scientists to develop a vaccine. The interview will be moderated by Edgar Walters of Texas Tribune.

The new coronavirus, also called the COVID-19 virus, is caused by a member of the coronavirus family that's a close cousin to the SARS and MERS viruses that have sparked outbreaks in the past. More than 25 cases of COVID-19 have been reported throughout Texas, including 14 in the Houston area. No confirmed COVID-19 cases have emerged in the state capital of Austin.

On Wednesday, the World Health Organization announced that the new coronavirus had become a “pandemic.” The pandemic declaration refers to the scope of the new coronavirus — but not its severity — and means it has become a "worldwide spread of a new disease.”

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Hotez serves as co-director of the Texas Children's Hospital Center for Vaccine Development and is the founding dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine. According to a bio provided by Texas Tribune, he has expertise in vaccine development and neglected tropical diseases and is currently leading several projects to develop new vaccines.

Watch coronavirus live stream discussion here

Hotez is well familiar with viral illness, Texas Tribune noted: More than a decade ago, Hotez and his team, in collaboration with scientists at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, Texas, developed a potential vaccine for the viral disease known as severe acute respiratory syndrome, SARS, that killed hundreds in China in the late 2000s. Despite such gains, organizers noted, the project was abandoned due to lack of funding.

Texas Tribune added that Hotez testified before the U.S. House Committee on Science, Space and Technology earlier this month, and argued that the new coronavirus should spur changes in the way the government funds vaccine development.

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"It's tragic that we won't have a vaccine ready for this epidemic," Hotez wrote in a prepared statement. "Practically speaking, we'll be fighting these outbreaks with one hand tied behind our backs."

Hotez is also a fellow in disease and poverty at the James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy at Rice University and is the author of “Forgotten People, Forgotten Diseases.”

This conversation will be livestreamed via the above link and on Texas Tribune social media channels. The moderator will convey Texas residents' most pressing questions on the coronavirus outbreak in real time, organizers said. Those wishing to participate in the conversation can submit their questions here or tweet them using the hashtag #AskTrib.