Fauci says U.S. will likely return to 'some degree of normality' at same time as Canada

While critics of Canada’s vaccine rollout continue to point to the more accelerated COVID-19 vaccine rollout in the United States, Dr.

In an exclusive interview with Evan Solomon on CTV’s Question Period, the director of the United States’ National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases said that on the current timeline for immunizations in that country, he isn’t expecting life to start looking as it did pre-COVID-19 until the fall or winter of 2021.

“By the time we get to the fall or winter, we likely would be able to achieve some degree of normality,” Fauci said.

“You've got to logistically get all these people vaccinated, and that in and of itself is going to take several months and by the time the immunity sets in, we're going to be well into and beyond the summer.”.

Fauci said that if a country is able to get the pandemic under control with vaccines, it will require between 70 and 85 per cent of the population to be immunized to create the “umbrella, or a blanket of herd immunity.”.

Right now, the Canadian government is planning for all Canadians who want to be vaccinated, able to have access to a shot by the end of September, meaning the herd immunity threshold could be reached in the months prior and some degree of pre-pandemic life could be possible come the fall.

As of late Friday afternoon Canada had vaccinated 1.3 per cent of the population according to CTV News’ vaccine tracker.

The United States had vaccinated 3.37 per cent of its population, though health facilities in that country have reported their own challenges with the rollout, from shortages to a lack of vaccine confidence from some front-liners who are eligible. .

One of the outstanding factors in establishing whether Canada will be able to remain on track with this vaccination timeline, is the availability of doses.

Asked how the United States has been able to access more doses quickly, Fauci pointed to the made-in-America domestic production aspect of their vaccine operation, something Canada does not have.

Fauci said that he is watching “very carefully,” the evolving information about emerging COVID-19 strain variants, such as those that have been discovered in the U.K., South Africa, and Brazil, including to see whether or not the mutated virus can escape the protection of vaccines.

In Canada the National Advisory Committee on Immunization (NACI) has recently approved delaying administering second doses of the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for up to 42 days, though it’s not an approach the U.S

While it’s being used in Canada to try to get as many needles offering partial immunity out to people as possible given the surging case counts and small number of doses available so far, Fauci isn’t advising states to follow suite, citing the lack of data

Caroline Quach-Thanh said it’s not the first time her advisory committee has made what she called an “off-label” recommendation and that it’s common that it’ll be done in Canada but not in the United States

Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, speaks with Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar before receiving his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine at the National Institutes of Health, Tuesday, Dec

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will likely return to 'some degree of normality' at same time as Canada