Students line up to sanitize their hands to avoid the contact of coronavirus before their morning class at a hight school in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)
OAN Newsroom
UPDATED 10:56 AM PT — Tuesday, January 28, 2020
Pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson is working on a vaccine to counter the deadly coronavirus. In a recent interview, the chief scientist for Johnson & Johnson, Dr. Paul Stoffels, said he’s confident they can create a vaccine within months. However, it could take up to a year before it becomes available to the public.
This comes after the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reported more than 100 people across 26 states are currently being screened for the fast spreading illness.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar spoke out on the current state of the epidemic Tuesday.
“The CDC has reported five cases of the novel coronavirus infection here in the United States…China has now reported more than 4,500 cases,” he stated. “American’s should know that this is a potentially very serious public health threat, but at this point American’s should not worry for their own safety.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar speaks at a news conference about the federal government’s response to a virus outbreak originating in China, Tuesday, Jan. 28, 2020, in Washington. (AP Photo/Patrick Semansky)
According to the CDC, five cases of the coronavirus have been reported in the U.S. and all of those who were affected had previously traveled to Wuhan, China. The capital city of Central China’s Hubei province has been deemed the epicenter of the outbreak.
In the meantime, the U.S. State Department has issued a Level 4 advisory warning and are urging American’s to hold off on traveling to China.
