Vaccinations multiply in a “ ray of hope ”

The United States has stepped up COVID-19 vaccinations in recent days after a slower-than-expected start, bringing the number of vaccines administered to around 4 million, government health officials said on Sunday.

Dr Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease specialist, also told ABC’s “This Week” that President-elect Joe Biden’s pledge to administer 100 million vaccines in his first 100 days in office is feasible.

And he dismissed President Donald Trump’s false claim on Twitter that the deaths and cases of coronavirus in the United States have been greatly exaggerated.

“All you have to do … is go into the trenches, go to the hospitals, go to the intensive care units and see what happens.” These are real numbers, real people and real dead, ”Fauci said on NBC’s“ Meet the Press ”.

According to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University, the death toll in the United States has exceeded 350,000, the highest of any country, while more than 20 million people nationwide have been infected. States have reported a record number of cases in recent days, and southern California funeral homes are inundated with bodies.

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti said the pandemic is worsening in his city as the virus quickly spreads through households and people let their guard down upon hearing of a vaccine. “It’s a virus that attacks our weakness, our exhaustion,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation”.

Experts believe the actual number of deaths and infections in the United States is much higher, and many cases have been overlooked, in part due to insufficient testing.

Fauci said he saw “a small ray of hope” after 1.5 million doses were given in the previous 72 hours, an average of about 500,000 per day, a marked increase in vaccinations. He said that brings the total to around 4 million.

He acknowledged that the United States had not met its goal of shipping and distributing 20 million doses by the end of December.

“There were some problems. It’s understandable, ”Fauci said. “We’re not where we want to be, there’s no question about it.”

But he expressed optimism that momentum will pick up by mid-January and that ultimately the United States will vaccinate 1 million people a day. “Biden’s goal of vaccinating 100 million people in the first 100 days is a realistic goal,” Fauci said.

Dr Moncef Slaoui, chief scientific adviser to Operation Warp Speed, the government’s vaccine development and distribution, told CBS 17.5 million doses had been shipped. About 13 million of them have been distributed to clinics, hospitals and other places where they will be administered, according to Fauci.

The 20 million dose target was missed in part because local health departments and medical facilities have had to stay focused on testing to manage an increase in cases, US surgeon general Jerome Adams said. And the holiday season meant health workers were taking time off, he said.

“I don’t want anyone to think I’m pollyannish here. There is what we delivered, and hopefully that will translate into vaccinations. It didn’t happen the way we would like it to, ”Adams said on CNN’s“ State of the Union ”.

On Sunday morning, Trump falsely tweeted that the outbreak had been “far exaggerated” due to the “ridiculous” methodology of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He also complained that Fauci was credited by the news media for doing “an amazing job” while Fauci “works for me and the Trump administration, and I am in no way recognized for my work.” .

Fauci and others warn that a further surge is likely due to holiday gatherings and the cold weather that keeps people indoors.

“It could and probably will get worse in the next couple of weeks, or at least maintain this very terribly high level of infections and deaths that we are seeing,” Fauci said.

Arizona reported a one-day record of more than 17,200 new cases on Sunday, eclipsing the previous mark of around 12,000 set in early December. Health officials said the jump appears to reflect infections from Christmas gatherings, but was also likely inflated by a delay in reporting over New Years weekend.

North Carolina and Texas have reported a record number of people in hospital with COVID-19 – nearly 3,600 and over 12,500, respectively.

Abroad, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said more onerous lockdown restrictions in England were likely as a variant of the coronavirus pushed infection rates to their highest level on record. Over 50,000 new infections have been reported daily over the past six days.

Scientists said the variant was up to 70% more contagious. While Fauci said the United States should conduct its own study, he noted that British researchers believe the mutated version is not deadlier or more likely to make people sicker and that the vaccines are effective against she.

But Scott Gottlieb, a former U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner who sits on the board of directors of vaccine maker Pfizer, said in “Face the Nation” that the variant “really creates more urgency to try. to get this vaccine out faster and attract more people. vaccinated.”

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Associated Press editors around the world contributed to this report.