Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said on Sunday that the United States was left behind in administering coronavirus vaccines, but he expects the momentum to increase in the first weeks of January.
“There are several stages for this: there is allocation, there is shipping, there is distribution and, finally, it is putting people in the arms,” said Fauci.
Fauci said he spoke to Army General Gustave Perna, chief of vaccine distribution for Operation Warp Speed, who explained that 20 million doses were allocated, about 14 million doses were sent and about 13 million were distributed to clinics and individual hospitals where people will be vaccinated.
“They promised it would be 20. I asked why we are not 20, and there was certainly a small problem, which he explained. But, as we enter the first days and the first week of January, we will most likely reach 20. So, we will be a little late for a few days, ”said Fauci.
The real problem, according to Fauci, is to put doses in people’s arms.
“We now have about 4 million, which is obviously below where we want to be,” he said. “But if you look at the last 72 hours, there were about 1.5 million administered in people’s arms, which is an average of around 500,000 a day,” he added. This “is better than that 4 million to 20 million ratio tells you”.
Fauci said the United States is not where it wants to be. “We have to do a lot better,” he said. In a week or two, things can get better after a holiday slowdown.
“No excuses – we are not where we want to be, but I hope that we will gain some momentum and get back to where we want to be in terms of putting you in people’s arms,” said Fauci.