How Dr. Fauci Really Feels About The COVID-19 Vaccine Rollout

COVID-19 vaccines are here and are slowly being rolled out, but not fast enough for Dr. Anthony Fauci. "We would've liked to have seen it run smoothly and have 20 million doses into people today, by the end of the (year) 2020, which was the projection," said the infectious disease expert on Today. "Obviously, it didn't happen and that's disappointing. Hopefully, as you get into the first couple of weeks in January, the gaining of momentum will get us to the point where we want to be."

The vaccine program, known as Operation Warp Speed, has not been vaccinating people as quickly as anticipated. Officials from the program said that 20 million people would receive the first dose of the two-dose vaccine this month, noted CNBC. Instead, only 12.4 million doses have been distributed, while just under 2.8 million doses have been administered.

President-elect Joe Biden has criticized the slow pace of the vaccine rollout, noting in a speech this week that at the current rate of vaccination getting vaccines to the whole country is "going to take years, not months," (via The New York Times). Biden promised to ramp up vaccine distribution after he is inaugurated in a few weeks, saying he will "move heaven and earth to get us going in the right direction." Biden added, "This is going to be the greatest operational challenge we've ever faced as a nation but we're going to get it done."

Biden has vowed to get 100 million vaccines distributed in his first 100 days in office.

Fauci previously said on Bloomberg Quicktake that most people in America should be able to access the vaccine by April or May, which would mean that "by the end of the second quarter of the year you could have enough protection to this country that the pandemic as we know it will be well, well suppressed, below the danger point."