Case updates August 20, 2021 - why the vaccines were approved so quickly

Dr. Vin Gupta

Dr. Vin Gupta, critical care pulmonologist and faculty member of the at the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, speaking to Nicolle Wallace on The Rachel Maddow Show August 3, 2021.

GUPTA: You know, there is in notion this (the vaccine) has been a rushed process. It's been anything other than that. What has been consolidated -- I get this question all the time, where, Doc, why did it take 12 months when it normally takes five to ten years? That's on the top of mind to your point amongst many people who have yet to vaccine.

It turns out, it's been all the non-science parts of the vaccine development waiting for money, waiting for people to enroll in the studies, waiting for the NIH to say you can go to the next phase. 

All that bureaucratic non-scientific components of vaccine development have been consolidated as part of operation Warp Speed.

And so, that's why I think we need to take heart that the science hasn't cut corners at all. It's just been the bureaucracy of it. That's why it takes five years.

Case updates August 20, 2021 - no updates on weekends; otherwise "new" numbers represent one day's results

 

United States 

• Total cases  37,583,545 - 157,450 new
• Total deaths 625,375 - 1,120 new