Dials
of undiluted Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine. | Brendan Smialowski/AFP via
Getty Images
Fauci said he has seen “some little glimmer of hope” after
1.5 million doses were administered in the previous 72 hours, a
strong increase in vaccinations.
The U.S. ramped up COVID-19 vaccinations in the past few days
after a slower-than-expected start, bringing to 4 million the
number of Americans who have received shots, Dr. Anthony Fauci said
Sunday.
The government’s top infectious-disease expert also said on
ABC’s “This Week” that President-elect Joe Biden’s pledge
to administer 100 million shots of the vaccine within his first 100
days in office is achievable.
And he rejected President Donald Trump’s false claim on
Twitter that coronavirus deaths and cases in the U.S. have been
greatly exaggerated.
“All you need to do … is go into the trenches, go into the
hospitals, go into the intensive care units and see what is
happening. Those are real numbers, real people and real deaths,”
Fauci said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
The U.S. death toll has climbed past 350,000, the most of any
country, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University,
while more than 20 million people nationwide have been infected.
States have reported record numbers of cases over the past few
days, and funeral homes in Southern California are being inundated
with bodies.
Experts believe the real numbers of deaths and infections are
much higher and that many cases were overlooked, in part because of
insufficient testing.
Fauci said he has seen “some little glimmer of hope” after
1.5 million doses were administered in the previous 72 hours, a
strong increase in vaccinations. He said that brings the total to
about 4 million.
But he acknowledged the U.S. is well short of its goal of having
20 million people vaccinated by the end of 2020. He said about 13
million doses have been distributed to clinics, hospitals and other
places where they will be administered.
“There have been a couple of glitches. That’s
understandable,” Fauci said. “We are not where we want to be,
there’s no doubt about that.”
He expressed optimism that the momentum will pick up by
mid-January and that ultimately the U.S. will be vaccinating 1
million people a day, as Biden has vowed.
“The goal of vaccinating 100 million people in the first 100
days is a realistic goal,” he said.
On Sunday morning, Trump falsely tweeted that the outbreak has
been “far exaggerated” because of the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention’s “ridiculous” methodology. He
complained too that Fauci has been credited by the media with doing
“an incredible job” when Fauci “works for me and the Trump
administration, and I am in no way given any credit for my
work.”
Fauci and others are warning that an additional surge is likely
because of holiday gatherings and the cold weather keeping people
indoors.
“It could and likely will get worse in the next couple of
weeks, or at least maintain this very terribly high level of
infections and deaths that we’re seeing,” Fauci said.
The worries extend overseas, where British Prime Minister Boris
Johnson said more onerous lockdown restrictions in England are
likely as a variant of the coronavirus has pushed up infection
rates to their highest levels on record. More than 50,000 new
infections have been reported daily over the past six days.
Scientists have said the variant is up to 70% more contagious.
While Fauci said while the U.S. needs to do its own study, he
sought to reassure viewers that British researchers have found that
the mutated version “doesn’t make people more ill or cause more
death” and that vaccines are effective against it.
Associated Press writers worldwide contributed to this
report.
