A Covid-19 vaccine likely won’t be “widely available” in the US until “several months” into next year, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said Friday.

“I think as we get into 2021, several months in, that you would have [a] vaccine that would be widely available to people in the United States,” Fauci told the Washington Post’s Bob Costa during a Post Live event.

It was a clear acknowledgment that approval, manufacturing and distribution of a vaccine would take months, even if one is found to work by the end of this year.

“The key word there, Bob, is widely available,” Fauci said.

Fauci noted that some companies have claimed they could have a vaccine available before the end of the year. “I’m a little skeptical about that, but, you know, anything is possible,” he told the Post.

“It is likely that in the beginning of next year we would have tens of millions of doses available,” he added. “The companies who are involved in making these vaccines, many of which the federal government is in deep collaboration with, promised that as we get into 2021, there will be hundreds of millions of doses. And then maybe sometime thereafter, billions of doses.”

Fauci also said that as many people as possible should get vaccinated for influenza this year, since the pandemic will complicate flu season.

US cases top 4 million

Fauci’s assessment comes after the US hit a sobering 4 million cases of Covid-19 and the rising daily rate of confirmed cases and hospitalizations suggest the virus is far from under control, medical experts are urging political leaders to shut down the country and start over to contain the pandemic.

At least 4,073,243 coronavirus cases and 144,780 deaths have been recorded in the United States, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. As the numbers climb, more than 150 prominent US medical experts, scientists, teachers, nurses and others have signed a letter to political leaders urging them to shut down the country and start over to contain the surging coronavirus pandemic.

“Right now we are on a path to lose more than 200,000 American lives by November 1st. Yet, in many states people can drink in bars, get a haircut, eat inside a restaurant, get a tattoo, get a massage, and do myriad other normal, pleasant, but non-essential activities,” the letter said.

Coronavirus is set to become a leading cause of death in the US, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention mortality statisticians told CNN via email Thursday.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates also sounded the alarm Thursday during a CNN coronavirus town hall.

“Infection rates in the US are deeply troubling because the summer, when it’s warmer, when people are outdoors more, actually it’s easier to reduce the infection than it’s going to be out in the fall,” said Gates, who is helping fund the development of coronavirus vaccine efforts through his Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. “So we’re in a very tough situation.”

How states are handling major outbreaks

Cases are starting to plateau in the four states — Texas, California, Arizona and Florida — that have seen large increases, Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House Coronavirus Task Force coordinator, said Friday.

Birx compared what’s been going on in these states to the outbreak in New York in the spring, adding “it’s very serious and it’s very real.”

A judge in Starr County, Texas, issued a shelter-at-home order until August 11. It went into effect Friday morning. Starr County, along the US-Mexico border, includes Rio Grande City.

States across the country are struggling with local outbreaks.

New Mexico, Hawaii and Missouri all reported records for new daily cases Thursday.

For the fourth straight day, Los Angeles County reported more than 2,000 additional confirmed cases, Health Officer Muntu Davis announced in a news briefing.

And officials in Alaska began isolating, monitoring and caring for 96 employees of a seafood processing plant in Seward, according to a news release from the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services. CNN has reached out to the company, OBI Seafoods, for comment.

Citing an increasing rate of transmission, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced the state is tightening restrictions on restaurants, bars, fitness centers, movie theaters, weddings and funerals.

Where the new school year stands

The resurgence in cases, and likely ongoing presence of the virus, has ignited debate about how to proceed with the new school year.

Vice President Mike Pence was expected to participate in a roundtable discussion about reopening Indiana schools, according to his official schedule.

New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham announced Thursday that the state will delay in-person learning through at least Labor Day as cases break records in the state.

By contrast, Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said his state will introduce a plan to reopen schools Tuesday.

New guidance from the CDC is strongly in favor of sending students back to the classroom, saying that available evidence shows that coronavirus does not possess as great a risk to children. With the services and instruction offered in school, the CDC guidance said virtual learning can be a disadvantage to American students.

Learning more on risks to mothers and infants

Researchers are still learning how the virus impacts certain groups, with results sometimes changing earlier guidance.

New guidance from the American Academy of Pediatrics released Wednesday said that mothers infected with the virus can safely stay in the same room as their newborns if safety measures are taken.

“What we now know is the risk of the newborn becoming infected around the time of birth is low when safety precautions are taken to protect the baby,” said lead author of the guidance Dr. Karen Puopolo in a statement. “In fact, the risk in the short-term appears to be no greater if mother and infant room-in together using infection control measures compared to physical separation of the infant in a room separate from the mother.”

A study published in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health supported that guidance.

Researchers reported no cases of viral transmission among 120 babies born to 116 Covid-positive mothers, even when both shared a room and the mothers breastfed.