{"id":91660,"date":"2021-01-04T06:59:38","date_gmt":"2021-01-04T11:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/?p=91660"},"modified":"2021-01-04T06:59:38","modified_gmt":"2021-01-04T11:59:38","slug":"auto-draft-411","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/PERSIAN-HERITAGE.COM\/en\/2021\/01\/04\/auto-draft-411\/","title":{"rendered":"Fauci Suggests Slow Pace of US Coronavirus Vaccinations to Pick Up"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"VOA \u2014 WASHINGTON – Vaccinations against the coronavirus are off to a slow and chaotic start in the United States, but the country\u2019s top infectious disease expert held out hope Sunday that the pace will soon pick up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are not where we want to be, no doubt about it,\u201d Dr. Anthony Fauci\u00a0told ABC News\u2019 \u201cThis Week\u201d show.\u00a0\u201cWe need to catch up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

So far, the U.S. has distributed 13 million doses of\u00a0two vaccines produced by drug makers Pfizer-BioNTech\u00a0and Moderna\u00a0throughout the country\u00a0but only 4.2 million\u00a0shots have ended up in the arms of Americans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe vaccines are being delivered to the states by the\u00a0federal\u00a0government far faster than they can be administered!\u201d President Donald Trump said on Twitter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Fauci, director of the\u00a0National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases\u00a0and the chief medical adviser to President-elect Joe Biden,\u00a0said that the pace of inoculating people \u2013 chiefly health care workers and elderly people in nursing homes in the initial stages of the vaccination\u00a0campaign\u00a0\u2013 is picking up.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a glimmer of hope,\u201d Fauci said,\u00a0with 1.5 million shots administered in the last three days.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He added, \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get interaction between the federal government and the\u00a0(country\u2019s 50)\u00a0states, a real\u00a0partnership.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Florida<\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<\/div>
Florida Department of Health medical workers prepare to administer a COVID-19 vaccine to seniors in the parking lot of the Gulf View Square Mall in New Port Richey near Tampa, Florida, Dec. 31, 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In some states, long lines of people waiting for shots have formed\u00a0on sidewalks leading to health centers. In the city of Houston, Texas, officials had 750 shots\u00a0available,\u00a0but 250,000 people called\u00a0a registration line in hopes of scheduling a vaccination.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Biden has called for 100 million vaccinations in the first 100 days of his administration that starts with his inauguration January 20.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fauci said the stepped-up pace of inoculations can be met.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s realistic,\u201d he said. \u201cWe can do a million a day.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fauci said that if 70%\u00a0to 85% of Americans are vaccinated in the coming months the United States can return to some sense of normality by next September\u00a0or\u00a0October.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Fauci\u00a0was for a while the face of the Trump\u2019s administration\u2019s response to the pandemic that has\u00a0killed\u00a0more than\u00a0350,000 Americans and\u00a0left\u00a0more than 20.4 million\u00a0infected. Both figures\u00a0surpass\u00a0those of\u00a0any other\u00a0country, according to\u00a0the\u00a0Johns Hopkins University.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

With\u00a0the U.S. coronavirus caseload growing by tens of thousands a day and Trump\u00a0preoccupied\u00a0with\u00a0a\u00a0November\u00a0reelection bid he\u00a0lost, the White House mostly sidelined Fauci in favor of a more favorable\u00a0commentary on the development of the vaccines.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In a tweet Sunday, Trump indicated he was still\u00a0upset\u00a0about Fauci\u2019s standing in the court of public opinion.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething how Dr. Fauci is revered by the\u00a0LameStream\u00a0Media as such a great professional, having done, they say, such an incredible job, yet he works for me and the Trump Administration, and I am in no way given any credit for my work,\u201d Trump said. \u201cGee, could this just be more Fake News?\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n