Overcoming vaccine hesitancy is the next step. To help the US get to the other side, some of the challenges that officials are working to tackle include addressing skepticism from many communities about the vaccine. “Nothing has been in my heart more than this issue over the past several weeks to months,” US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams told CNN.
“I’ve been working with Pfizer, with Moderna, with AstraZeneca, with Johnson & Johnson to make sure we have appropriate numbers of minorities enrolled in these vaccine trials so that people can understand that they are safe. “Adams said he’s been working with leaders in minority communities, including faith leaders and fraternities and sororities, as well as celebrity influencers who can “use their megaphone to share the appropriate information with people, because vaccine hesitancy is one of the greatest social injustices out there.”
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar said Monday he believes the general public could start getting vaccinated by late February and March — earlier than other experts have estimated.
Returning to normality, officials have said, will depend on how quickly vaccinations happen — and how many Americans get vaccinated. About 70% to 80% of the American public needs to be immune to the virus before it is “gone,” according to Dr. Francis Collins, the director of the National Institutes of Health.
