Fauci Testifies: Hopeful For A Vaccine By Late 2020

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, and other Trump administration officials testified before a House committee Tuesday about the country's coronavirus response.

Fauci said Tuesday he is cautiously optimistic that there will be a COVID-19 vaccine by the end of the year or early 2021, and warned that the next few weeks will be critical to tamping down coronavirus hot spots around the country.

Fauci testified in front of the House Energy and Commerce Committee with Robert Redfield, director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Stephen Hahn, head of the Food and Drug Administration, and Brett Giroir, head of the U.S. Public Health Service.

The health officials returned to Capitol Hill at a fraught moment in the country's response to the coronavirus, with cases rising in about half the states.

"We've been hit badly," Fauci said. He added he was "really quite concerned" about rising community spread in some states, including Arizona, which Trump was visiting Tuesday to view construction of a border wall and for a rally at a megachurch.

Since Fauci's last appearance at a high-profile hearing more than a month ago, the U.S. has been emerging from weeks of stay-at-home orders and business shutdowns. But it's being done unevenly, with some states far less cautious than others.

About 2.3 million Americans have been sickened in the pandemic, and some 120,000 have died, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.