Former Obama Healthcare Chief: Coronavirus Vaccine May Only Be 40-50% Effective

A leading healthcare official under former President Barack Obama is tempering expectations that a coronavirus vaccine will be a magic cure-all.

Appearing on CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow Thursday, Andy Slavitt — the former acting head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services — cautioned that a vaccine may not have the impact that people are hoping.

“I just assumed this would be like the MMR vaccine that my kids get, and it would be almost 100 percent effective,” Harlow said to Slavitt. “You don’t think it will be. You think it’s going to be more like the flu vaccine and 40 to 50 percent effective in people. Is that right?”

“I don’t think we know, but I think we should assume this will be more like an influenza vaccine,” Slavitt said. “Which will work on some portion of the population, not others.”

The CDC rates the flu vaccine as 40-60 percent effective.

Despite that sobering assessment, Slavitt does not believe the news is all bad on the vaccine front. The former Obama healthcare chief said progress is rapidly being made, and several vaccines could hit the market.

“We should also assume there will be more than one vaccine, and that over time, vaccines will get better,” Slavitt said. “This is not a shot at a failure. This is amazing speed that we will get our first vaccine, according to the scientists that I talk to.”

Watch above, via CNN.