Healthy young people can be vaccinated by the end of summer

The question many healthy, non-essential adult workers ask themselves is, when will they be able to receive the Covid vaccine?

“There is a bit of confusion” on the schedule, White House chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci said Thursday in an interview with “Pod Save America.” But there are three different “goalposts” to consider, he said.

Here’s what you need to know about the current timeline, from procurement eligibility to securing an appointment.

Given the limited supply of Covid vaccines, the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recommends that the Centers for Disease Control prioritize vaccinating high-risk groups first. This includes: healthcare providers, residents of nursing homes, the elderly, essential workers and those with underlying health conditions that put them at increased risk of serious illness from Covid. (To check your eligibility status, you can use the NBC News Vaccine Planning Tool.)

As vaccine supply increases, ACIP will expand its recommendations.

It will be until May or early June to pass through the priority groups, said Mr. Fauci, co-host of “Pod Save America”, Jon Favreau.

It is only when this is over that “anyone and everyone” will be able to line up for a vaccine, Fauci said.

Originally, Fauci estimated that April would be an “open season” for vaccines, meaning healthy young people can walk into a pharmacy and get vaccinated. But that has since been postponed, because “we didn’t have as many vaccines as we would have liked,” he said.

Eligibility is one thing, and having enough vaccines is another.

Production “will continue to increase as we move forward” thanks to the National Defense Production Act, which allows Pfizer and Moderna to increase the production of raw materials for vaccines, said Tuesday. Chairman Joe Biden at CNN’s Anderson Cooper.

By the end of May, the United States is expected to have 400 million doses, Biden said. By July, the country “will probably have the 600 million doses we have contracted to immunize 300 million people,” Fauci said.

This means that by the end of July, there will be enough vaccine doses available to immunize every American, Biden said.