Fauci pushes prediction of U.S. vaccination ‘open season’ to late May or June

Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Anthony Fauci looks on during the daily briefing in the Brady Briefing Room of the White House in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 21, 2021. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty Images)

by: Los Angeles Times

Posted: Feb 16, 2021 / 04:04 PM PST

Updated: Feb 16, 2021 / 04:04 PM PST

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious-disease expert, offered on Tuesday a more cautious note about when vaccines might be more fully available across the country.

Last week, Fauci said the country could see “open season” for COVID-19 vaccine doses by April. However, in an appearance on “L.A. Times Today,” he said the timeline may be more like “late May and early June.”

“We were expecting a greater number of doses from Johnson & Johnson, and it looks like, even though it’s a good vaccine, that we’re not going to have a substantial amount of doses until we get into April and May,” he said during the program, which is scheduled to air at 7 p.m. Tuesday.

“So I think it’s probably going to be a little bit later than the date that I had originally thought, because I was not anticipating that we would have this much of a problem with the number of doses.”

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