AP
Washington Hispanic:
The United States accelerated COVID vaccines – 19 in recent days after a slower than expected start, with bringing the number of vaccines dispensed to about 4 million, government health officials said Sunday.
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert nation, also said on ABC’s “This Week” that President-elect Joe Biden’s pledge to administer 100 millions of vaccines within his first 100 days in office is achievable.
And he rejected President Donald Trump’s false claim on Twitter that coronavirus deaths and cases in The United States has been greatly exaggerated.
«All you need to do … is get into the trenches, go to the hospitals, go to the intensive care units and see what is happening. Those are real numbers, real people and real deaths, “Fauci said on NBC’s” Meet the Press. “
The death toll in the United States has risen past 350. 000, most of any country, according to data compiled by the University Johns Hopkins, while more than 20 million people nationwide have been infected. States have reported a record number of cases in recent days, and funeral homes in Southern California are being inundated with bodies.
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, He said the pandemic is getting worse in his city as the virus spreads rapidly within homes and people let their guard down with the news of the arrival of a vaccine. “This is a virus that takes advantage of our weakness, takes advantage of our exhaustion,” he said on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”
Experts believe that the actual number of American deaths and infections is much higher and that many cases were missed, in part due to insufficient testing.
Fauci said he has seen “a little glimmer of hope” after 1.5 million doses were administered in the 72 hours prior, or an average of about 500. 000 per day, a marked increase in vaccinations. He said that brings the total to about 4 million.
He acknowledged that the United States did not have its goal of shipping and distributing 20 million doses at the end of December.
«There have been a couple of failures. That is understandable, ”Fauci said. “We’re not where we want to be, there’s no question about that.”
But he expressed optimism that momentum will pick up in mid-January and that ultimately the United States will vaccinate 1 million people a day. “Biden’s goal of vaccinating 100 million people in the first 100 days is a realistic goal” , Fauci said.
Dr. Moncef Slaoui, the chief scientific advisor to Operation Warp Speed, the government’s vaccine development and distribution effort, told cbS that they have shipped 17, 5 million doses. About 13 millions of them have been distributed to clinics, hospitals and other places where they will be administered, according to Fauci.
The target of 20 million doses has not been reached in part because local health departments and medical facilities had to stay focused on testing to handle an increase in cases, said United States Surgeon General Jerome Adams. And the holiday season meant healthcare workers were taking time off, he said.
“I don’t want anyone to think I’m being Pollyannish here. There is what we deliver, and we hope that those will translate into vaccines. That has not happened the way we would like, “Adams said on CNN’s” State of the Union. “
On Sunday morning, Trump falsely tweeted that the outbreak was “Greatly exaggerated” due to the “ridiculous” methodology of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He also complained that Fauci has been credited by the media with doing “an incredible job” when Fauci “works for me and the Trump Administration, and I am not given any credit for my work.”
Fauci and others are warning that an additional surge is likely due to the Christmas gatherings and cold weather that keeps people indoors.
« It could and probably will get worse in the next few weeks, or at least maintain this very terribly high level of infections and deaths that we are seeing, ”Fauci said.
Arizona reported a record Sunday of a day of more than 17. 200 new cases, eclipsing the previous mark of some 12. 000 set early december. Health officials said the jump appears to reflect infections from Christmas gatherings, but was also likely inflated by a delay in reporting over New Years weekend.
North Carolina and Texas reported a record number of people in hospital with COVID – 19, nearly 3. 600 and more than 12. 500, respectively.
Overseas, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the most onerous lockdown restrictions in England are likely as a variant of the coronavirus has pushed infection rates to their highest levels on record. More than 50. 000 new infections have been reported daily in the last six days.
Scientists have said the variant is up to 70% more contagious . Although Fauci said the United States needs to do its own study, he noted that British researchers believe that the mutated version is not more lethal or more likely to make people sick and that vaccines are effective against it.
But Scott Gottlieb, a former US Food and Drug Administration commissioner who serves on the board of vaccine manufacturer Pfizer, said on “Face the Nation” that the variant “really creates more urgency around trying to get this vaccine out more quickly and vaccinate more people. ”