Oct 28, 2020 - Health

Fauci says U.S. may not return to normal until 2022

Axios

Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci, testifies during a Senate hearing on COVID-19 — Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci, testifies during a September Senate hearing on COVID-19 in Washington, D.C. Photo: Graeme Jennings/Pool/AFP via Getty Images

NIAID director Anthony Fauci told the Journal of the American Medical Association on Wednesday he doesn't expect a COVID-19 vaccine to be ready until January 2021 or later.

What he's saying: Fauci said during the interview that the U.S. was in a "bad position" after failing to keep case numbers down post-summer. "We should have been way down in baseline and daily cases and we’re not," he said.

In a separate interview with Australia's University of Melbourne Wednesday, Fauci said he was "certain" there would be a coronavirus vaccine in the next few months.

"If we get a vaccination campaign, and by the second or third quarter of 2021 we have vaccinated a substantial proportion of the people, I think it will be easily by the end of 2021 — and perhaps even into the next year — before we start having some semblances of normality."

The big picture: President Trump has repeatedly claimed that a vaccine would be available for widespread distribution before the end of this year.

CDC director Robert Redfield testified before Congress that it's more likely that a vaccine won't be available until the second or third quarter of 2021.

Of note: Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said earlier this month that his company's coronavirus vaccine won't be available for widespread distribution until at least this coming spring.

The company's vaccine is one of four that are in late-stage testing in people in the U.S.

Go deeper: The coming coronavirus vaccine chaos

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Fauci says U.S. may not return to normal until 2022

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