Coronavirus LIVE Updates: Fauci Says Biden Goal of 100 Mn Doses in 100 Days ‘Can be Done’; Australia Unlikely to Fully Reopen Borders in 2021

Some states, including New York, have warned that they may exhaust their vaccine supplies as early as the coming week due to a shortfall in deliveries coordinated by the federal government. That comes as the states were attempting to accelerate the pace of vaccinations.

The country is currently facing the worst coronavirus surge yet. On Tuesday, a grim new record was set as the disease claimed 4,470 lives in 24 hours. The latest five-day toll is close to 20,000.

Biden’s future chief of staff Ron Klain said Sunday that the overall death toll, now more than 396,000, could surpass 500,000 in February. “The virus is going to get worse before it gets better,” he told CNN. “It’s going to take a while to turn this around.”

Klain said that to accomplish its goal for accelerated vaccinations, the Biden administration could invoke the Defense Production Act, which allows the government to require companies to produce items deemed necessary in an emergency.

The future president also has said he will mobilize the National Guard as well as the Federal Emergency Management Agency to help set up additional vaccination centers.

Rochelle Walensky, tabbed by Biden as the next head of the CDC, expressed confidence Sunday that Biden’s goal of 100 million doses in 100 days could be reached. “It will be a hefty lift,” she told CBS, “but we have it in us to do this.”