Dr. Anthony Fauci has provided a bit of hope for Americans hoping to return to normal activities sooner rather than later. The nation's leading infectious expert believes that vaccines will be available for the general American public by April.
"I would imagine by the time we get to April, that would be what I call open season. Namely, virtually everybody and anybody in any category can start to get vaccinated," he said while being interviewed on NBC's Today.
While Fauci is hopeful that vaccines will be distributed in high quantities by April, he is warning Americans that it will take a few more months for those vaccines to be administered. Ultimately, he believes that the vast majority of Americans will be vaccinated by the end of the summer.
"Hopefully, as we get into the middle and end of the summer, we can have accomplished the goal of what we're talking about — namely, the overwhelming majority of people in this country having gotten vaccinated," Fauci explained.
This is positive news for the American public, especially Black Americans. Thus far, Black Americans have struggled to obtain COVID-19 vaccines. In states like Pennsylvania, Black residents are 4.2 times less likely to have received the vaccine than white residents. Elsewhere, Black Floridians are 2.8 times less likely to have received the vaccine than their white neighbors. These vaccination rates run contrary to the rate at which Black Americans are exposed to the virus. The CDC has reported that Black Americans are 1.4 times more likely to contract the virus than white Americans and 3.7 times more likely to be hospitalized due to COVID-19. There are a number of causes for the disproportionate rates at which Black Americans receive the vaccine. It is partially due to apprehension to the medical system and partially due to inadequate healthcare access. In the coming months, members of Congress hope to rapidly increase the number of Black Americans vaccinated against COVID-19.
“With COVID-19 continuing to take a disproportionate and deadly toll on communities of color, we need urgent solutions to address health inequities and crush this virus,” Rep. Steven Hosford of the Congressional Black Caucus said.
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