"Certainly it's had a rocky beginning," @NIHDirector tells @washingtonpost Live of #covid19 vaccine rollout. "Maybe we shouldn't be too shocked that it didn't go like clockwork," but says "things are starting to pick up." Says 1M injections per day "is good benchmark to reach."

Collins declines to make a specific estimate for herd immunity, but says "let's go for 80-85%; that ought to be sufficient for achieving herd immunity."

"Talking in the neighborhood of 300M... getting immunized in the coming months."

(How do we do that w/o vaccinating kids?)

"There's a pretty clear path for getting where we need to be by summer," @NIHDirector tells #postlive of #covid19 vaccine rollout. Says processes are falling into place.

. @NIHDirector gives props to West Virginia for having the most initial success administering #covid19 vaccines in nursing homes.

. @NIHDirector: So far UK and South African variants don't appear "so different that the vaccines wouldn't work," or that "monoclonal antibodies wouldn't work against them." Though real experiments are ongoing to make sure that's the case, he says. #postlive