Fauci Clarifies Biden’s Prediction On COVID Vaccine Access: ‘Open Season’ In April

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 21: Dr Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listens during an event at the State Dining Room of the White House January 21, 2021 in Washingto... WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 21: Dr Anthony Fauci, Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, listens during an event at the State Dining Room of the White House January 21, 2021 in Washington, DC. President Biden delivered remarks on his administration’s COVID-19 response, and signed executive orders and other presidential actions. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images) MORE LESS
Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

President Biden’s chief medical adviser Dr. Anthony Fauci clarified the President’s estimate of widespread COVID-19 vaccine availability to the public in the spring during an interview on Fox News Tuesday morning.

During an event on Monday focused on American manufacturing, Biden expressed confidence that COVID-19 vaccines would be widely available in the spring, and he believes the country will be headed toward herd immunity by summer.

On Tuesday, Fauci was pressed on Fox News on Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine projection for the spring as well as Biden COVID-19 adviser David Kessler’s projection shared on SiriusXM of widespread vaccine availability in the “third or fourth quarter” of the year.

Fauci said that he doesn’t think “there really is as apparent of discrepancy as what you might think” as he clarified Biden’s projection. The nation’s top infectious disease expert said that by April it will be “open season” for COVID-19 vaccine availability.

“What you’re talking about is if you go through the priority areas — the 1A, 1B and 1C. You know 1A is health care providers, people in nursing homes and those who take care of them and you go on and on,” Fauci said. “By the time you get to April, you would have gotten to the point where I refer to it for simplicity as ‘open season.’ Mainly, you are at that point that wherever you are in a priority you can start getting the doses.”

Fauci added that it will take several months before everyone who wants to get the COVID-19 vaccine doses will receive them, which he estimates will go into the end of the summer.

“I have been saying that probably by the end of the summer you could get everybody vaccinated,” Fauci said. “But the availability for people in any category will likely be by April.”

Watch Fauci’s remarks below:

Latest News

Notable Replies

  1. So wonderful to hear the truth, even if it’s not 100% good news.

  2. Avatar for paulw paulw says:

    I think Fauci is being optimistic. He’s also going to be misquoted by right-wing sources as saying that vaccination will be done by April. (And suddenly that will be the deadline that the administration missed.)

    He’s also not saying anything about vaccine uptake. There will be pockets of idiots who resist until it’s too late.

  3. We need 70% vaccinations right? I don’t think theres 30% who won’t get them

  4. Avatar for paulw paulw says:

    We don’t know what percentage we need; it depends on how the non-vaccinated are distributed and how behavior changes. If everybody unmasked and started going to superspreader events, you might be able to have a reservoir of infection pretty much indefinitely.

  5. You may be right about optimism, but I get the impression Fauci, liberated at last, is not going to say anything that isn’t accurate or well-founded in reasonable expectation.

Continue the discussion at forums.talkingpointsmemo.com

36 more replies

Participants

Avatar for discobot Avatar for paulw Avatar for robg Avatar for epicurus Avatar for manhattan123 Avatar for dont Avatar for bonvivant Avatar for lastroth Avatar for leftcoaster Avatar for ronbyers Avatar for jaybeeraybee Avatar for fiftygigs Avatar for jtx Avatar for castor_troy Avatar for expatls1954 Avatar for grants Avatar for maximus Avatar for seamus42 Avatar for justruss Avatar for dougsanders Avatar for bloomingpeonie Avatar for offset Avatar for virginia_yankee Avatar for nextmore

Continue Discussion
Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: