Fauci thinks momentum will swing toward vaccinating at least 1 million people per day in U.S.

(Image credit: PATRICK SEMANSKY/POOL/AFP via Getty Images))

last updated 6 January 2021

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation's top infectious disease expert, told The Associated Press he thinks the "glitches" in the United States' COVID-19 vaccination program, which has moved more slowly than anticipated, "have been worked out."

In fact, he's feeling optimistic enough to predict that with the holiday season ending, the process will gain momentum, leading to at least 1 million Americans getting vaccinated per day. That would mean President-elect Joe Biden's goal of hitting 100 million vaccinations within in his first 100 days in office is still a "very realistic, important, achievable goal."

Fauci isn't alone. Several experts expect the effort to pick up steam in the days and weeks ahead, including Nancy Messionier, the director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases. "I really expect the pace of administration to go up pretty massively in the next couple weeks," she told Stat News. Read more from Fauci and Messioner at The Associated Press and Stat News, respectively.

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Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.

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