Drug Companies Plan 'Safety Pledge' Ahead Of Vaccine

ACROSS AMERICA — As the Trump administration touts the possibility that a vaccine could be available as early as Nov. 1, the drug companies competing to be the first to develop the vaccine want to assuage concerns about the abbreviated timeline.

At least five drug companies plan to release a joint pledge meant to reassure the public that they will not seek a premature approvals, the New York Times reported.

The statement was planned for release early next week, but it may be released before then after its existence was made public by The Wall Street Journal.

The manufacturers that are said to have signed the letter include Pfizer, Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi.

The statement is expected to say that the companies will not release any vaccines that do not follow "rigorous efficacy and safety standards," representatives of three of the companies told the Times.

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Scientists and other public health officials have expressed both concern and skepticism about the vaccine and its possible October availability. Many are calling it a political ploy by the Trump administration ahead of the Nov. 3 general election.

Meanwhile, many U.S. colleges are struggling to find places to quarantine students as the number of coronavirus cases on campuses continues to spike.

In Connecticut, Sacred Heart University has converted a 34-room guest house at the former Connecticut headquarters of General Electric to quarantine students.

The University of South Carolina ran out of space at a dormitory for quarantined students and began sending them to rooms it rented in hotel-like quarters at a training center for prosecutors.

Also, the Air Force Academy sent 400 cadets to hotels to free up space on its Colorado base for quarantines.

The actions are among many that demonstrate how the virus has uprooted traditional campus life amid a pandemic that's killed nearly 200,000 people in the United States and proven to be especially problematic for universities since the start of the school year.

Many colleges quickly scrapped in-person learning in favor of online after cases began to spike, bars have been shut down in college towns, and students, fraternities and sororities have been repeatedly disciplined for parties and large gatherings.

READ MORE: Colleges Use COVID Dorms, Quarantines To Keep Virus At Bay

Long Labor Day Could Mean Coronavirus Spike, Health Experts Fear

Labor Day weekend could mark a "critical point" not only for colleges, but for the coronavirus pandemic in general, Dr. Anthony Fauci said this week.

Are we going to go in the right direction and continue the momentum downward, or are we going to have to step back a bit as we start another surge?" Fauci, the government's top infectious disease expert, said.

The previous rise in infections, deaths and hospitalizations over the summer — primarily in the South and West — was blamed in part on Americans behaving heedlessly over Memorial Day and the Fourth of July.

At least 980 new coronavirus deaths and 51,470 new cases were reported in the United States on Friday, according to a New York Times database. Over the past week, there have been an average of 41,233 cases per day, a decrease of 7 percent from the average two weeks earlier.

As of Saturday, 31 states remained above the positive testing rate recommended by the World Health Organization to safely reopen. To safely reopen, the WHO recommends states remain at 5 percent or lower for at least 14 days.

More than 6.23 million people in the United States had tested positive for the coronavirus as of Saturday evening, and at least 188,400 have died, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.

Stay up to date on current coronavirus news via The New York Times or Washington Post.

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