White House chief medical adviser on Covid-19, dr. Anthony Fauci, listening to US President Joe Biden (outside the box) during a visit to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, on February 11, 2021.
Saul Loeb | AFP | Getty Images
Most Americans have access to a Covid-19 vaccine by mid-late May or early June, Dr. White House chief medical adviser Anthony Fauci said Tuesday a slight delay compared to earlier predictions.
The expert infectious diseases had previously predicted that the life-saving medicine would be widely available by the end of March or early April. So far, the distribution of the vaccines is limited to workers in essential industries, 65 years and older and those with underlying health conditions, depending on the condition in which someone lives.
However, Fauci said the federal government expects “significantly more” initial doses from Johnson & Johnson, which has applied for an emergency permit in the US. The company in New Jersey previously said it would release 100 million doses to the U.S. by the end of June.
‘It could take until June, July and August to finally get everyone vaccinated,’ Fauci told CNN on Tuesday. “So when you hear how long it’s going to take to get the overwhelming majority of the population vaccinated, I think no one agrees that it’s going to be fine until the end of the summer, and we start in early fall.”
The New York Times first reported in January that unexpected delays in production would lead to a lower initial stock of J & J’s drug if it gets emergency clearance. A company spokesman was not immediately available to comment on how many doses J&J would give immediately.
The administration of Biden gradually increased the amount of doses sent to countries each week and on Tuesday planned to send 13.5 million doses. The federal government will also double the amount of doses sent directly to retail pharmacy sketches, said Jen Psaki, White House press secretary.
Demand for the drugs outweighs the country’s supply, Fauci told CNN, calling it a ‘critical issue’. State health officials have been demanding a more steady supply of vaccines for weeks. Some large-scale vaccination sites in the US have had to postpone or temporarily close their opening due to a lack of doses.
“I’m a little disappointed that the amount of doses we’ll get from J&J early on is relatively small, but as we get further into the spring, there will be more and more,” Fauci said.
Meanwhile, the head of the English task force for vaccinations told Sky News on Tuesday that he expects every adult there to receive both doses of vaccine by August or September.
“We are confident within the vaccine group now that the stock we are going to get will take us to a position where we can vaccinate as many people as the UK wants to vaccinate,” Clive Dix told Sky News.