Dr. Anthony Fauci said Tuesday that a COVID-19 vaccine will likely be widely available by April, a promising prediction that arrives after drugmaker Pfizer said its shot appears to be highly effective.
Responding to a query from CNN news anchor Jake Tapper about the timeline for far-reaching vaccine availability, the government's top infectious disease expert replied: "We're talking probably by April."
"These are just guesstimates," Fauci, 79, explained. "I believe that within the first quarter."
The first quarter of the calendar concludes at the end of March.
The prediction from the Brooklyn-born immunologist raises hopes that the U.S. will dodge another bummer pandemic summer. But it will curb few fears about a difficult winter ahead.
COVID-19 infections are soaring as America creeps deeper into the fall, with the country logging more than 100,000 new cases daily as hospitals in some regions fill to their limits.
Over the course of the coronavirus crisis, the U.S. has logged more than 10.2 million cases and more than 239,000 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar also said Tuesday that COVID-19 vaccinations will probably be widely available by the spring.
