The country's top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci on Thursday said life could only return to normal once there is enough coronavirus vaccines to distribute.

Dr. Anthony Fauci
(Photo : Reutersconnect)

The production and distribution of COVID-19 vaccines are very important. This is now the top priority of the federal government. Fauci said life could return to normal by sometime next year if there is sufficient production of COVID-19 vaccines.

During Fauci's interview with CNN's segment show "The Axe Files" with David Axelrod, he revealed that companies behind the candidate and potential vaccines told him that they will have tens of millions early this year. 

He noted that a company committed to have hundreds of millions in 2021, while other companies said even after a while, the country could get as many as billions. Fauci said if these vaccines will reach the almost 300 million population in the country, then normality could return.

"The timetable you suggested of getting into 2021, well into the year, then I can think with a successful vaccine -- if we could vaccinate the overwhelming majority of the population -- we could start talking about real normality again," Fauci said. However, he noted that this will be in a gradual process. 

Fauci issued this statement as the country surpassed four million COVID-19 infections on Thursday. A quarter of these cases was recorded in the last 15 days.

The search for an effective coronavirus vaccine continues to get moving. On Monday, early results of the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca was published in the The Lancet. The result of their Phase 1/2 showed that the vaccine is safe and induces an immune response. However, researchers added that there's still a need for further studies to ensure that the vaccine protects people against the virus. 

During a hearing on Tuesday, the AstraZeneca told the U.S. Congress that they are now on track to have the vaccine as early as September. But only hours after the hearing, the UK vaccine task force said the vaccine is unlikely to be made widely available by 2021. 

Despite the announcement from the UK vaccine task force, some companies noted that they are still aiming to produce a vaccine in early 2021.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Department of Defense announced on Wednesday their agreement with Pfizer Inc.

The agreement includes "large-scale production and nationwide delivery of 100 million doses of a COVID-19 vaccine in the United States," but only after the vaccine is successfully developed and approved. 

According to the HHS, the nationwide delivery of the vaccine would begin in the fourth quarter of 2020. The doses will be delivered to locations based on the government's direction and it would be available to Americans at no cost.

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