Fauci says it’s ‘possible’ new virus strain has reached US; vaccines being tested against the UK variant
WASHINGTON — The nation’s top infectious disease expert estimates that most Americans will have access to the new COVID-19 vaccines by mid-summer.
Dr. Anthony Fauci told Good Morning America on Tuesday that he expects to start vaccinating the general population “somewhere in the end of March, the beginning of April.”
He said the process could take up to four months to reach all Americans who want to receive the vaccine.
The first doses started rolling out last week, with health care workers, first responders and the elderly on the priority list. Fauci planned to receive his own shot of the vaccine created by Moderna on Tuesday.
Fauci also said it was “certainly possible” that the new COVID-19 strain discovered in the U.K. had reached America as well. He said travel bans were unnecessary and “rather draconian,” but that pre-travel testing requirements for visitors from the U.K. might be preferable.
Fauci reiterated his longstanding plea for Americans to curb their normal Christmas and holiday plans this year as the virus continues to surge all around the country.
Here’s what is known about the new virus strain
Here’s an update on all developments. Scroll or swipe further for in-depth coverage.
- President-elect Joe Biden will speak Tuesday as the nation deals with a COVID-19 surge that’s casting a shadow over the Christmas holiday this week.
- Pfizer and Moderna are testing their coronavirus vaccines to see if they work against the mutated version of the virus found in the United Kingdom and other countries, the companies said. The variant has not been identified in the United States, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a Tuesday brief.
- California could be facing a once-unthinkable caseload of nearly 100,000 hospitalizations within a month, Gov. Gavin Newsom said Monday.
- Stranded Europe-bound truckers hoped Tuesday to receive the green light to get out of Britain soon, after some of the most dramatic travel restrictions of the pandemic were imposed on the country following the discovery of a potentially more contagious strain of the coronavirus.
- Congress passed a $900 billion pandemic relief package that would finally deliver long-sought cash to businesses and individuals and resources to vaccinate a nation confronting a frightening surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths.
- An analysis of data from 33 states obtained by Chalkbeat and The Associated Press shows that public K-12 enrollment this fall has dropped across those states by more than 500,000 students, or 2%, since the same time last year.
- Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said Monday he delivered a weekend address on the pandemic to “cut through the politics” and implore those who shun masks to wear them without him imposing a “controversial” state requirement, bidding to end the nation’s worst new COVID-19 infection surge per capita.
For more summaries and full reports, please select from the articles below. Scroll further for the latest virus numbers.
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