President Joe Biden said Monday he believes it will be “this spring” when any American who wants a COVID-19 vaccine can get it. This is perhaps the most ambitious target so far publicly mentioned by his administration.
“I think it will be this spring. I think we will be able to do it in the spring,” said Mr. Biden said Monday when a reporter asked him when any American who wants it should get vaccinated. “But it’s going to be a logistical challenge that surpasses anything we’ve ever tried in this country. But I think we can do it. I feel confident that we’re well on our way to herd immunity by summer. move and increase access for people who are not in the first place, on the list, down to children and how we deal with it. But I feel good about where we are going and I think we can do it. ”
Over the past few days, Biden administration officials during calls and at press conferences have refused to draw up a specific timeline for when the vaccine will be widely available to the public.
The new president also raised his hopes on how many doses of the vaccine could be delivered during his first hundred days in office, reviewing it from 100 million to 150 million. Some have questioned whether the Biden government’s 100 million shots in the first 100 days were ambitious enough, as the US had already fired about 1 million shots a day when he took office.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, now an adviser to Mr. Praying for the COVID-19 response, in a interview on “Face the Nation” Sunday that the government hopes to exceed the target.
“It’s going to be a challenge,” Fauci said. “I think it was a reasonable goal set. We always want to do better than the goal you set, but it’s really a floor and not a ceiling.”
In December, Fauci estimated that “somewhere in late March, early April, it would be that the normal healthy man and woman in the street who have no underlying conditions would probably get it.” Fauci said he hopes by the early summer enough people will be vaccinated in the US to reach the country herd immunity. There is no established determination of herd immunity for COVID-19, but experts estimate that about 70% of the population must have immunity to the virus to achieve it.
In a CBS News Survey Earlier this month, 59% of Americans surveyed said they think vaccine rollouts are moving too slowly, while a smaller number remain reluctant to get them. Forty-one percent said they would get the chance as soon as they could, while 37 percent said they would wait and see how it goes for others first.