Fauci says US may ‘return to some form of normality’ by middle of 2021 and new mutant Covid ‘should NOT’ impact vaccines

DR Anthony Fauci said the US may "return to some form of normality" by the middle of 2021 and new mutant virus "should not impact Covid-19 vaccines."

Disease expect made the comments on Wednesday after receiving the Moderna jab on live TV yesterday as the country battles a vicious second wave.

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"If we can get the overwhelming majority of the people in this country to accept vaccinations, I think we'll be in very good shape," Fauci told the host today.

"[We would be] approaching what all of us would want, which is a return to some form of normality."

Fauci went on to say that there is "no indication" that the new strains of the virus mean that the vaccine will not work.

He listed Johnson, Astrazeneca, and the -based biotechnology company Novavax, all of whom are developing shots.

"Not only is it a good thing that we're going to be getting more doses from Pfizer, we'll get more doses from Moderna, and we're also involved in the support of the testing of vaccines of several other companies," he said.

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"We hope as we get into the first quarter and the second quarter that of 2021 that we'll have enough vaccine doses to be to be able to vaccinated a substantial proportion of the population by the end of the second quarter as we get into the summer of 2021."

Fauci said "by the time we're at the end of the summer," the would be on the road to getting back to normal towards the end of the year – if people accepted the jabs, that is.

Top officials including President-elect , incoming First Lady Dr Jill Biden, outgoing VP, his wife Karen Pence, and House Speaker have all been vaccinated.

Fauci's comments came just hours after Pfizer and BioNTech revealed that they will supply the US with 100million extra doses of their coronavirus vaccine - with a second agreement.

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The companies hope to deliver all of the 100million Covid-19 doses by July 31.

His reassuring comments come as many counties in the have been labeled "sustained Covid" hotspots by and the country suffered its deadliest day on Tuesday.

Yesterday, at least 3,401 Americans died, marking America's second highest daily toll since December 16.

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It is also the fifth time the number of daily deaths have equalled more than 3,000 during the pandemic.

This week, the US has seen a total of at least 322,851 deaths and more than 18.2million positive Covid cases.

's White House Coronavirus Force revealed where the virus was surging in a disturbing community report.

They highlighted areas of concern by county across the US and the data was put together from recent testing numbers and cases.

The  indicates that there is not one state across the country without a "sustained hotspot."

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It showed , , , and to be almost completely covered in red; this means all the counties in the state have been dubbed hotspots.

A majority of counties in ,, , , , , and also have "sustained hotspots."

Areas cover with a light green color – called a "low or moderate burden" – are mostly seen in , , , , , , and .

[We'll be] approaching what all of us would want, which is a return to some form of normality.

Dr Anthony Fauci

Another CDC data map revealed counties with a rapid rise in coronavirus cases within the past two weeks, showing CA and TN to have the biggest increase.

Despite the surge, AAA estimates that 2.94 million people are expected to travel by air in the US over the holidays from December 23 through January 3.

This would mark a 59.9 percent drop from last year as the CDC urge Americans to stay home and avoid traveling to stop any post- contagion.

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Meanwhile, Pfizer and BioNTech now hope to deliver all of the 100million extra Covid-19 doses by July 31 after a second agreement with the government.

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The Trump administration announced a deal with Pfizer to buy the additional doses today for  $1.95billion.

Around 70 million extra doses will be rolled out by June 30, while the remaining 30 million will be delivered by July 31 the latest.