CEDARVILLE, Ohio — During a Thursday appearance on NBC’s “Today Show,” Dr. Anthony Fauci, who serves as science adviser to President Joe Biden, provided some optimism about the COVID-19 vaccination process.
Fauci said “by the time we get to April,” it will be “open season, namely virtually everybody and anybody in any category could start to get vaccinated.” He cautioned it will take “several more months” to logistically deliver injections to adult Americans but predicted herd immunity could be achieved by late summer.
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine mirrored many of those sentiments during his COVID-19 press briefing on Thursday afternoon.
"We hope to be vaccinating everyone by this summer," the governor said. "I don't know what date this thing will pop open, but I'm optimistic. Pfizer will continue to expand some, Moderna will expand some."
DeWine added that he had also spoken this week to representatives from Johnson & Johnson, who are trying to get their single-shot vaccine approved through an Emergency Use Authorization with the FDA.
"I got some pretty good news from them and feel pretty confident that that's going to get approved," DeWine said of Johnson & Johnson's vaccine. "Once it's approved, they told us they're ready to ship. We're optimistic we're going to be able to reach everybody. But we have to take this thing one step at a time."
This week, DeWine said the state is receiving 214,525 first doses of the vaccine. That number will increase to 223,025 first doses next week. In addition, doses will be coming to more than 160 Rite Aid stores in the state and expand to all 194 Kroger stores in Ohio.
Meanwhile, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that more than 10.4 million Americans have already received both COVID-19 vaccinations.
The Associated Press and Erin McHugh contributed to this story
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