Fauci expects tens of millions of COVID-19 vaccines ready in early 2021

Drugmakers will likely have tens of millions of doses of a coronavirus vaccine in the early part of next year, with production ramping up so that it hits a billion doses by the end of 2021, Anthony Fauci, the top U.S. government official on infectious diseases, said in a Reuters interview on Wednesday.

Fauci said he has not seen any pressure from the White House to announce a vaccine close to the Nov. 3 election in the hopes of boosting President Donald Trump's re-election chances.

He added that regulators have promised "they are not going to let political considerations interfere" with the approval of a COVID-19 vaccine and that "safety and efficacy" will be primary considerations.

Fauci's interview with Reuters came on the same day Trump said in an interview with Fox News that the virus is "going away. It will go away like things go away."

Fauci offered a more mixed assessment, saying some parts of the country had done well in containing the spread of the virus, while others were "on fire."