'Disappointing': Fauci admits the Trump administration's vaccine rollout is not living up to its promises

Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, is not pleased with the Trump administration's rollout of the coronavirus vaccine.

During an appearance on "The TODAY Show," Fauci expressed concern about the slow distribution of the vaccine as he shared details about the year-end goal he had in mind.

"We would have liked to have seen it run smoothly and have 20 million doses into people today by the end of the 2020, which was the projection," Fauci said on Thursday, Dec. 31. "Obviously, it didn't happen, and that's disappointing."

Fauci went on to discuss the additional effort needed where resources are concerned. According to the nation's top infectious disease expert, there will likely need to be serious changes in the coming weeks to effectively vaccinate a substantial number of Americans.

"There really has to be a lot more effort in the sense of resources for the locals, namely, the states, the cities, the counties, the places where the vaccine is actually going into the arms of individuals," he said.

However, he did admit that there is a silver lining. Despite President Donald Trump's continued efforts to undermine science and the recommendations regarding public health, Fauci believes science will ultimately prevail as more vaccines will likely be made readily available over the next few months.

"The good news is that science has and will come to the rescue getting us vaccines," he said. "More than one vaccine, hopefully, five, six, seven or more vaccines throughout the world, that will get us out of this and put this in the rear-view mirror, behind us."

As of Thursday, Dec. 31, the United States has reported a total of 20,260,964 positive coronavirus cases since the beginning of the pandemic. A total of 351,697 Americans have also died due to complications of coronavirus.