FINGERS CROSSED

Fauci: It’ll Be ‘Open Season’ for Vaccine Eligibility by April

But he cautioned that it would still be months before the U.S. could reach herd immunity.

The end may be in sight. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert and a scientific adviser to President Biden, said Thursday that it would be “open season” for adults to get the COVID-19 vaccine by April. “The number of available doses will allow for much more of a mass vaccination approach,” Fauci told NBC’s Today Show, citing the White House’s plans to ramp up distribution, and the pending approval of a third vaccine, made by Johnson & Johnson. Later in the day, President Biden announced the U.S. will have enough doses to vaccinate 300 million Americans by the end of July. The administration purchased an additional 100 million vaccines from Moderna and 100 million from Pfizer.

“Virtually anybody, and anyone, in any category, could start to get vaccinated” by the end of April, Fauci said, though he added that it would likely take a few more months to achieve herd immunity. He also said officials were concerned about a new strain of the virus from the U.K. but vaccines have so far proven effective against it.