America’s top infectious disease doctor, Anthony Fauci, is optimistic that President-elect Joe Biden will make good on his promise to administer 100 million COVID-19 vaccines during his first 100 days in office.
“I think that’s possible, it’s very possible to do that,” Fauci said, according to Newsweek. “I think you’ve got to be careful about judging the long-range by what’s happened in the first couple of weeks.”
Despite a slow start, Fauci thinks the United States could soon be administering at least a million vaccinations per day. The Associated Press reports that only about a third of the first supplies have been shipped to states a little more than three weeks into rolling out the vaccine.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 17 million doses have been distributed as of Wednesday. And more than 5 million people have received their first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
The Trump administration had promised to provide states enough vaccine for 20 million people in December and fell short of the goal even as states struggled to do their part in administering the vaccine.
The US is experiencing a post-holiday spike in coronavirus cases. Last month was the deadliest and most infectious month since the pandemic began. According to the CDC, the country has had close to 21 million total cases of the virus and has caused more than 350,000 deaths.
