During a Feb. 16 interview with CNN’s Jim Sciutto, Fauci revealed a new estimated timeline for general public vaccinations: May or June. “That timeline will probably be prolonged, maybe into mid-to-late May and early June,” Fauci told CNN. According to recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), those in the general public should be vaccinated last, following healthcare workers, those over the age of 65, other essential workers, and those with underlying medical conditions. And for advice from the infectious disease expert, Dr. Fauci Just Said This Is the Only Safe Way to Eat at a Restaurant. Fauci had previously given an earlier estimate for this timeline, saying that those in the general public would be eligible for vaccination by the end of April. However, according to Fauci, this was based on information surrounding the Johnson & Johnson vaccine that has since changed.ae0fcc31ae342fd3a1346ebb1f342fcb “If you start talking about when vaccine would be more widely available to the general population, I was hoping that that would be by the end of April,” he told CNN. “That was predicated on J&J, the Johnson product, having considerably more doses than now we know they’re going to have.” Per CNN, Johnson & Johnson will have fewer than 10 million vaccine doses ready to ship if they are approved for emergency-use authorization by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) before the end of February. And for more on this single-shot vaccine, These Are the Side Effects of the New Johnson & Johnson Vaccine. Vaccine eligibility may be opened up in May and June, but that doesn’t mean most people will get vaccinated right away. According to Fauci, it will take a “few months” to actually get the rollout really going once the shots are available to everyone. “Let’s say, in May, vaccines are going to be widely available to almost anybody—May, June. But it may take until June, July, and August to finally get everyone vaccinated,” Fauci said. That means the ability to get an estimated 75 percent of Americans vaccinated in order to reach herd immunity most likely will not happen until “well into the end of the summer and we get in the early fall,” he added. And for more up-to-date information, sign up for our daily newsletter. According to The New York Times, vaccination numbers remain relatively low in each state. No state has vaccinated more than 20 percent of its population, with Alaska vaccinating the highest percentage so far at 18 percent. Even with that in mind, Fauci said that as long as problems with vaccine supply do not occur, most Americans should be vaccinated by the end of the summer and early fall. However, supply issues remain a real possibility, as the country has already seen significant hold-ups. In late January, a number of states reported that they were running out of vaccine supply and were forced to cancel appointments. And while much of that was the result of confusion amid the transition between presidential administrations, some locations are still experiencing vaccine shortages. The Los Angeles Times reported that some Los Angeles vaccination sites had to turn people away on Feb. 11 after running out of vaccine doses sooner than expected. And for more coronavirus news, If You’re Layering These Masks, the CDC Says to Stop Immediately.
