Coronavirus news: US daily death toll shoots back up over 1,000

Adm. Brett Giroir, the assistant secretary for health at the Department of Health & Human Services, said he has never been told to slow down coronavirus testing amid reports that President Donald Trump had purposely downplayed the threat of coronavirus back in March.

Speaking with CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta on Thursday, Giroir said he has “never been told to slow down testing, or to reduce our efforts,” responding to a question about the president’s reported remarks.

“And in fact, we built on testing every single month and I think where we are right now is really an inflection point,” Giroir said.

He added that the country is at “an inflection point” with testing, noting that “this month, we should have the availability of over 100 million tests, and between 55% and 60% of those -- that's 55 to 60 million -- will be rapid point of care.”

Officials working on the World Health Organization's Access to COVID-19 Tools (ACT) Accelerator -- a global collaboration to accelerate the development and access to COVID diagnostics and treatments -- said the organization had received $2.7 billion in funding for the venture, which is less than 10% of the overall cost.

The organization also revealed that it experienced some setbacks in the Oxford coronavirus vaccine trial, saying there "was a severe side event and therefore the trial was halted."

"This is normal procedure and good clinical practice because safety is the highest priority in any clinical trial," Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the organization's chief scientist, said. "This is perhaps a lesson, or a wakeup call, for everyone to recognize the fact that there are ups and downs in research, there are ups and downs in clinical development and we have to be prepared for those. It's not always a fast and a straight road."

She added, "But we don't need to be overly discouraged because these things happen, and we have to wait for the determination."

She said clinical trials typically take at least six months to complete. With some vaccine trails having started as early as June, she said officials could receive interim results by the end of the year or early 2021.

"It's a race against this virus and it's a race to save lives. It's not a race between companies, it's not a race between countries," WHO Emergencies Chief Dr. Mike Ryan said. "It's a race to support public health in the safest most effective way possible. That's the race we're in."

In a Harvard Medical Grand Rounds interview on Thursday, Dr. Anthony Fauci, who has overseen the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases since 1984, expounded on his frustrations in combating the pandemic while officials race to approve a vaccine.

"What we're going to keep seeing is that as ... we keep trying to open up and we don't do it correctly, we're going to see these surges that we've seen in the southern states in the Midwest," he said. "I think as we get into the fall and we do more indoor things we are likely going to see upticks in COVID-19."

When it comes to the looming flu season, Fauci urged the public to look for inspiration in countries like Australia, which had the lightest flu season in memory.

"So I would hope with a combination of everybody getting vaccinated for influenza and the public health measures that we do" there won't be a "massive resurgence of of COVID," Fauci said, noting that vaccine trials were falling short among African Americans.

He also said the media should be more focused on showing people the positives of the potential vaccine.

"You know, the surveys [are disturbing] about people who do not want to get vaccinated and all of the stuff that you're reading and seeing about in the media about the lack of trust in the FDA and the lack of trust in the CDC. That is really not helpful at all to getting people confident in wanting to get vaccinated," he said.

Eight senior executives with the Food and Drug Administration joined forces Thursday to reiterate the agency's commitment to maintaining independence and following "scientific evidence" amid the ongoing pandemic.

"Maintaining the American public’s trust in the FDA is vital. If the agency’s credibility is lost because of real or perceived interference, people will not rely on the agency’s safety warnings," the executives wrote in a USA Today op-ed published Thursday. "Erosion of public trust will leave consumers and patients doubting our recommendations, less likely to enroll in clinical studies or to use FDA-regulated products when they should to maintain or improve their health."

They added: "This is problematic under normal circumstances but especially if we are to ultimately overcome COVID-19. Protecting the FDA’s independence is essential if we are to do the best possible job of protecting public health and saving lives."

The executives, who oversee various FDA centers around the county, said the agency is committed to providing science-based regulations and safety protocols despite operating "in a political environment" during the pandemic.

"We absolutely understand that the FDA, like other federal executive agencies, operates in a political environment. That is a reality that we must navigate adeptly while maintaining our independence to ensure the best possible outcomes for public health," the executives wrote. "When it comes to decisions to authorize or approve the products we regulate, or to take appropriate action when we uncover safety issues, we and our career staff do the best by public health when we are the decision-makers, arriving at those decisions based on our unbiased evaluation of the scientific evidence."