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On Thursday, Dr Anthony Fauci, longtime director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, delivered encouraging news on vaccine availability and the delay in rollout in the country. On NBC’s “Today” show, echoing remarks from earlier today, Fauci said there could be an “open season” on vaccine doses available by April.
“By the time we get to April, it will be what I would call, for better wording, ‘open season’, which is that pretty much anyone and anyone in any category could start making themselves. vaccinate, ”Fauci said. “From that point on, it would probably take several more months, just logistically, for the vaccine to be in people’s arms, so that hopefully in the middle and end of it. summer, we could have achieved the goal we are talking about – that is, the overwhelming majority of the population of this country having been vaccinated. “
The news coincides with the Biden administration’s announcement that they have purchased an additional 200 million doses of the two coronavirus vaccines, increasing the supply by 50% to a total of 600 million doses. Securing these additional vaccines means that by the end of July, everyone eligible for inoculation is covered. As previously reported by The New York Times, the Trump administration has let an offer to purchase Pfizer’s coronavirus vaccine go beyond the initial 100 million doses. President Joe Biden had previously said the lack of vaccines was partly responsible for the slow rollout of vaccines in the United States.
On Thursday, Fauci said Americans can expect vaccinations to “resume” very soon. Currently, COVID-19 eligibility varies in each state and county, prioritizing frontline workers and people over 65 who are considered to be at higher risk for serious illness.
“If you look at what’s going to happen as we go into March and April, the number of doses available will allow for a much more massive vaccination approach, which is really much more accelerated than what you are seeing now,” Fauci said. “If you compare now to what we literally did a month ago, the escalation has really been tremendous.”
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 46.3 million doses have been administered; 34.7 million Americans received the first dose and nearly 11.2 million people received both doses. The population of the United States is approximately 331 million; experts estimate that 80 to 90% of the population must be vaccinated, or immunized against the coronavirus due to a previous infection, for herd immunity to be achieved.
Notably, there is no estimated timeframe for when children under the age of 16 can receive a COVID-19 vaccine. The Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine is authorized for 16-17 year olds as well as for adults. The Moderna vaccine has been licensed for people 18 years of age and older, and is currently in clinical trials for ages 12 to 17.
In an interview with Propublica, Fauci said he hopes children can get the coronavirus vaccine by September 2021.
“We are in the process of starting clinical trials in what we call age de-escalation, where you do a clinical trial with people aged 16 to 12, then 12 to 9, then 9 to 6. “said Fauci. “I think when we get to the school opening, we’ll probably be able to recruit people who will go into grade one.”
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