Anthony Fauci, the nation’s top infectious diseases expert, was sanguine about the timeline for new coronavirus vaccine approvals, saying on Sunday that the clearance of new AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson shots is likely “weeks away.”
“I would imagine within a period of a week or so, or at the most a couple of weeks, they’re going to be getting their data together and showing it to the [Food and Drug Administration],” he said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“They’re going to have to get their data and safety monitoring board to look at it to see if it is appropriate to start, you know, essentially putting the package together to get an emergency use authorization. But we’re weeks away, not months away, for sure,” he added.
Fauci also said that President-elect Joe Biden’s pledge to disseminate 100 million doses of the vaccine in his first 100 days is not overly ambitious.
“The issue of getting 100 million doses in the first 100 days is absolutely a doable thing. What the president-elect is going to do is, where need be, to invoke the [Defense Production Act] to get the kinds of things they need, whatever they may be, be they tests, be they vaccines or what have you,” he told NBC’s Chuck Todd.
“In other words, to just not be hesitant to use whatever mechanisms we can to get everything on track and on the flow that we predict. But the feasibility of his goal is absolutely clear. There’s no doubt about it. That can be done,” he added.
Fauci’s comments came after governors late last week accused the Trump administration of lying about the availability of additional coronavirus vaccines, following an announcement from top officials that doses will no longer be held in reserve.