(CNN)Despite challenges with distributing and administering Covid-19 vaccines, the US “can and should” vaccinate 70-85% of adults by the end of summer, infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci says.
That could bring a semblance of normalcy by the fall, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said.
“When you put …. the pedal to the floor, you can get it done,” Fauci told CNN’s Chris Cuomo on Thursday night.
If the US were to administer 1 million shots per day — the pace required to meet President Joe Biden’s goal of giving 100 million shots in his first 100 days in office — it would take until the end of 2021 to fully vaccinate 75% of US adults, assuming every recipient needs two shots, according to a CNN analysis.
But that time frame would shrink if some people received one-dose vaccines. Johnson & Johnson produced one such candidate and is expected to report on Phase 3 clinical trials by the end of the month.
And Fauci said Friday he believes the US can go faster than 100 million shots in 100 days.
“I’d like it to be a lot more,” Fauci told CNN’s John Berman. “The goal was set, but you don’t want to get fixated on, ‘Was that an undershoot or an overshoot?’
“If we can do better than that, which I personally think we likely will, then great.”
The US recently recorded 1 million new shots in a 24-hour period, according to changes in US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data from Wednesday morning to Thursday morning. That’s only the second time a one-day increase rose above 1 million.
Fauci’s assessment offers a glimmer of hope as forecasts predict the death toll from the virus will likely top 500,000 within the next month.
“The only way to solve a problem is to own it,” he said Thursday. “Everybody wear a mask. Everybody adhere to the public health measures. Get the vaccine out as expeditiously as possible. Do everything we can to get the doses available and to get them into people’s arms.”
Source: The US can vaccinate up to 85% of adults and begin a return to normal by fall, Fauci says
