April could see an ‘open season’ on COVID-19 vaccines, says Fauci

The United States could see an “open season” on COVID-19 vaccine doses by April, Dr Anthony Fauci said Thursday, an optimistic forecast that comes as states continue to call for additional supplies to speed up their supplies. deployments.

Although the nation is still a long way from administering doses to all who need them by then, Fauci said he believes conditions will improve to the point that health officials can begin immunizing the population. general population.

“I imagine that by April it will be what I would call, for better wording, ‘open season’ – that is, pretty much anyone and anyone in any category could start to get vaccinated, “the top infectious disease expert US government said during an appearance on NBC’s” Today “show.

“From there it would probably take several more months, just logistically, for the vaccine to be in people’s arms, so that hopefully as we get into the middle and the end.” of the summer, we could have achieved the goal of what we are talking about. by the way: namely, the overwhelming majority of people in this country have been vaccinated.

At this point, only certain groups are eligible to receive the vaccines – a strategic move meant to ensure health care and some frontline workers, as well as those most at risk of the most severe consequences of COVID-19, are the first in line.

In California, those who work in the healthcare industry, live in long-term care facilities, or are 65 years of age and older can currently be vaccinated. Teachers, babysitters and other educators, food and agricultural workers, and law enforcement are also eligible – although many local health departments have not yet allowed these. groups to sign up for meetings, as vaccine stocks remain tight.

The country’s health authorities said supply was the main obstacle to accelerating vaccinations. Dose allocations varied from week to week, and until recently officials had little idea what their shipments would look like even in a few weeks, making long-term planning a challenge.

Fauci, however, said he expects vaccine distribution to accelerate in the coming months.

“If you look at what will happen as the months of March and April approach, the number of doses available will allow a much more massive vaccination approach, which is really much more accelerated than what you are seeing now”, a- he declared. . “If you compare now to what we were doing just a month ago, the escalation has really been tremendous.”

Nationwide, nearly 66 million doses of vaccine have been dispensed and about 44.8 million have been administered, according to the latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Federal officials said this week they would further increase the nationwide weekly vaccine allocation by 500,000 doses, from 10.5 million to 11 million.

This is an increase from the 8.6 million doses administered three weeks ago, according to Jeff Zients, who heads President Biden’s COVID-19 task force.

“We have started efforts to provide more vaccines to pharmacies and community health centers. And we are building new vaccination centers from the ground up, in stadiums, community centers, school gymnasiums and parking lots across the country, ”he said in a briefing Wednesday.

These efforts include the establishment of two federally supported mass vaccination sites in Cal State Los Angeles and the Oakland Coliseum. Both are expected to open next week and will be made up mostly of federal workers.

Military officials said Wednesday 222 Ft. Carson troops will be deployed to support the Los Angeles location.

“To be vaccinated – to be vaccinated – in the arms of the people is the mission,” Lt. Gen. Laura Richardson, commander of the US military in the north, said in a statement. “And this team, here on behalf of the governor and the state, has the capacity to immunize thousands more people every day.”

The recently announced increase in the weekly allowance equates to about 50,000 additional doses for California, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom.

It’s a welcome boost but, he admitted, it’s “not enough”.

The state is receiving just over a million doses per week, Newsom said. At this rate, it would take several months to receive enough vaccine to inoculate a significant portion of California’s estimated 40 million people, as the two vaccines currently available require two doses.

“The issue of vaccinations is a matter of supplies available across the country,” Newsom said in a briefing Wednesday. “The problem of scarcity is real.”

So far, about 7.6 million total doses of the vaccine have been dispensed to local public health departments and medical providers statewide, and nearly 5.1 million have been administered, according to data compiled by the Times.