Anthony Fauci saw an open season on the dose of COVID-19 vaccines on Thursday, dr. Anthony Fauci said. This is an optimistic forecast that follows the fact that states continue to call for additional inventory to increase their implementation.
Although the country is far from delivering doses to all who need it, Fauci said he believes conditions will improve to the point where health officials can begin vaccinating the wider population.
“By the time we are in April, I would think I would call it a better wording than ‘open season’, namely that anyone and everyone in any category can start vaccinating,” the US government’s top official said. expert in infectious diseases said during an appearance in the NBC program “Today”.
‘From then on, it will probably only take a few months to get just vaccination into people’s arms, so hopefully, by the time we get to the middle and end of summer, we could have achieved the goal of what we’re talking about: namely, the vast majority of people in this country who have been vaccinated. ”
At this stage, only select groups are eligible to receive the vaccines – a strategic decision to ensure that healthcare and certain frontline workers, as well as those most at risk of suffering the worst effects of COVID-19, are first in the ry is.
In California, those who work in health care, live in long-term care facilities, or are 65 years of age or older can currently be vaccinated. Teachers, childcare workers and other educators, food and agricultural workers and law enforcers are also eligible – although many local health departments have not yet allowed the groups to register for appointments as the vaccine supply remains tight.
Health authorities nationwide have said supply is the biggest obstacle to speeding up vaccinations. The allocation of doses varied from week to week, and until recently, officials gained little insight into what their shipments would look like even a few weeks in the future, making long-term planning a challenge.
However, Fauci said he expects the distribution of vaccines to accelerate in the coming months.
“If you look at what’s going to happen over the course of March and April, the number of doses available will offer a much larger vaccination approach, which is much faster than what you see now,” he said. . “If you compare now to what we literally did a month ago, the increase was really significant.”
Nationwide, nearly 66 million vaccine doses have been delivered, and approximately 44.8 million have been administered, according to the latest figures from Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Federal officials said this week that they would further increase the nationwide allocation of vaccines by 500,000 doses, from 10.5 million to 11 million.
According to Jeff Zients, who leads President Biden’s task force on COVID-19, this is higher than the 8.6 million doses delivered three weeks ago.
‘We have made efforts to get more vaccines to pharmacies and community health centers. And we are building new vaccination centers from the ground up in stadiums, community centers, school gyms and car parks across the country, ‘he said during an information session on Wednesday.
These efforts include the creation of two federal support information sites in Cal State Los Angeles and the Oakland Coliseum. Both will open next week and will be staffed mostly by federal workers.
Military officials said Wednesday that 222 soldiers from Colorado’s Ft. Carson will be deployed to support the LA location.
“Getting shots – vaccinations – into people’s arms is the mission,” said Lt. Gen. Laura Richardson, the U.S. Army Northern Commander, said in a statement. “And this team, here on behalf of the governor and state, has the ability to get thousands of people vaccinated every day.”
The recently announced increase in the weekly award, according to Govin Newsom, is about 50,000 additional doses for California.
It’s a welcome boost, but, he admits, “is not enough.”
The state receives a little over 1 million doses a week, Newsom said. At the same rate, it would take many months to receive sufficient shots to vaccinate a significant portion of California’s approximately 40 million people, as both current vaccines require two doses.
“The issue of vaccinations is a matter of the nationwide supply available,” Newsom said during an information session on Wednesday. “The issue of scarcity is real.”
To date, approximately 7.6 million total vaccine doses have been delivered to local public health departments and medical providers across the country, and nearly 5.1 million have been administered, according to data compiled by The Times.