When will COVID vaccines be available for everyone? Biden, Fauci offer rough timeline
Since President Joe Biden’s administration stepped in, America’s capacity to manufacture and administer COVID-19 vaccines has accelerated, though experts admit much more work needs to be done to get a handle on the pandemic.
In the last two days, health and government officials have announced major deals with vaccine developers and ambitious goals to increase vaccination rates.
White House coronavirus adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci told ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Friday that “as we go from April to May to June and then hopefully by July, we’ll be at that point where we have enough vaccine for virtually everyone.”
And April could be what Fauci calls “open season,” meaning anyone, no matter if they’re essential workers, at high risk or young, healthy adults, could get vaccinated, he told NBC’s “Today” show on Thursday.
Fauci’s remarks came the same day Biden announced the U.S. made deals with the Pfizer and Moderna companies to buy 200 million more COVID-19 vaccine doses (100 million doses from each company), according to his Thursday speech at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
Promises to deliver the extra vaccine doses are now “contractually obligated,” and have been expedited from the end of June to the end of May, Biden added. “That’s a month faster. That means lives will be saved.”
Biden said this means the country is on track to have enough supplies for 300 million Americans to be vaccinated with two doses by the end of July. However, that does not guarantee the vaccines will be in the arms of that many people by that time because each state has its own system in place to administer shots — and some may have the capacity to work faster than others.
“It may not sound like the urgent progress we need, but let’s be clear: When I took office, just three weeks ago, this country did not have a plan or enough vaccines, or people to vaccinate Americans — any — all Americans, at any time, in any point in 2021,” Biden said Thursday.
The president also said he believes his goal of administering 100 million shots during his first 100 days in office will not only be reached, but also surpassed. Still, some experts say that goal needs to be set higher.
“The man on the moon is the kind of goal that we should be aiming for at this point,” Dr. Leana Wen, an emergency physician and public health professor at George Washington University, told The Washington Post on Tuesday. “Having this 1 million a day, or even 1.5 million vaccines a day, is just not aspirational.”
The U.S. also signed contracts with Johnson & Johnson, AstraZeneca and Novavax — companies testing other COVID-19 vaccines — to provide a total of 500 million doses, although they haven’t been authorized by federal health officials yet, The Wall Street Journal reported.
When will kids get their COVID-19 vaccines?
The authorized coronavirus vaccines in the U.S., both of which comprise a two-dose series, are in the process of testing their product in kids under 16 for Pfizer, which expects to have preliminary data sometime early this year, and those younger than 18 for Moderna, which will have data on older kids ready sometime mid-year, according to ProPublica.
Although scientists don’t know if the vaccines are safe and effective in kids, Fauci told the outlet this week that children as young as first graders may be able to get vaccinated by September as the school year begins or is in its early stages. That’s assuming the ongoing clinical trials prove successful, he added.
“We’re in the process of starting clinical trials in what we call age de-escalation, where you do a clinical trial with people 16 to 12, then 12 to 9, then 9 to 6,” Fauci told ProPublica.
Masks will still be part of the picture as vaccines roll out
So far, scientists know the currently available coronavirus shots are capable of preventing severe and symptomatic COVID-19 with high efficacy, but much remains unknown about how well they can block infection entirely.
This means vaccinated individuals may still catch the coronavirus and spread it to others, even though they don’t get sick with symptoms. Health officials also don’t know how long protection from the disease lasts. Research is underway to find these answers.
For that reason, Fauci told “Good Morning America” that people will need to wear masks “for several, several months” as vaccines roll out.
Even when 75% to 80% of the population is vaccinated, Americans will still need to sport their masks, but maybe not as intensely as before mass vaccinations. “Prudently and gradually,” Fauci said of relaxing safety measures.
This story was originally published February 12, 2021 at 1:34 PM with the headline "When will COVID vaccines be available for everyone? Biden, Fauci offer rough timeline."
