The White House’s chief coronavirus consultant, Dr. Anthony Fauci, said on Thursday that life in the U.S. will not return to normal until the fall of 2021, despite emergency vaccine approvals.
“We can do both, we can keep the country open and we can comply with public health measures,” Fauci told MSNBC. “That together with a vaccine, I believe that in 2021 we will see this backwards … It will not happen in the first few months. If we do it correctly, I hope that when we arrive at the end of the summer, the beginning of the fall of 2021, we can begin to approach some degree of normality. “
SURGEON GENERAL BLAMES COVID-19 VACCINATION DELAYS IN THE STATE, LACK OF LOCAL FUNDING
Fauci’s comments come at the time when surgeon general Dr. Jerome Adams says the lack of state and local funds may be one of the reasons why millions of COVID-19 vaccines distributed in states across the country have not yet been given. to patients.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, gestures after receiving his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the National Institutes of Health, Tuesday, December 22, 2020, in Bethesda, Maryland (AP Photo / Patrick Semansky, Pool)
Just under 3 million people received the vaccine, despite the Trump administration’s pledge to administer 20 million by the end of December.
“Whenever you have a very big operation, like trying to vaccinate an entire country with a new vaccine, there will always be obstacles in the way,” said Fauci. “We hope … when we enter the first week of January, we will quickly reach the projection of 20 million doses in the arms we had. And when we enter the middle of January, February, March, we would be on target.”
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To date, two vaccines, the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the Modern vaccine, have received emergency FDA approval.
The federal government was caught in confusion over the launch of the vaccine, with President-elect Joe Biden criticizing President Trump’s efforts to distribute vaccines in a timely manner as “falling behind, far behind”.
Biden said he instructed his team “to prepare a much more aggressive effort with more federal involvement and leadership to get things on track” once he takes office on January 20.
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“We will find ways to increase the rate of vaccinations,” he said, reiterating the goal of “ensuring that 100 million vaccines are administered by the end of the first 100 days.”
Fox News’ Vandana Rambaran contributed to this report.