The distribution kinks for COVID-19 vaccines are getting ironed out, says Dr. Gregory Poland, an infectious diseases expert and head of Mayo Clinic's Vaccine Research Group.

"It's a logistics nightmare, but now you're seeing a plan to administer 1 million doses a day and I think that's very achievable," says Dr. Poland. "And the production of the vaccine is just going to accelerate."

Dr. Poland also repeats the reminders about preventing transmission of COVID-19:

• Wear a mask.
• Wash your hands.
• Keep your social distance.

"The current estimates are that in the next four weeks, we'll probably have about another 100,000 deaths," adds Dr. Poland. "It's stunning when you think about 1 out of every 860 Americans has now died of this."

In this Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr. Poland talks more about the rollout, transmission and herd immunity, as well as fertility issues related to COVID-19, survivor brain fog and more.

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Watch: Dr. Poland discusses the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, herd immunity and more issues related to COVID-19.

For everyone's safety, Mayo Clinic has strict masking policies in place. Anyone shown without a mask was recorded prior to COVID-19 or recorded in an area not designated for patient care, where social distancing and other safety protocols were followed.

Information in this post was accurate at the time of its posting. Due to the fluid nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientific understanding, along with guidelines and recommendations, may have changed since the original publication date. 

Dr. Poland has served as a consultant for Merck & Co., Medicago Inc., GlaxoSmithKline plc, Sanofi Pasteur, Emergent BioSolutions Inc., Dynavax Technologies Corporation, Genentech Inc., Eli Lilly and Co., Janssen Pharmaceutical Inc., Kentucky BioProcessing Inc. and Genevant Sciences Corporation. Honoraria: Elsevier.

For more information and all your COVID-19 coverage, go to the Mayo Clinic News Network and mayoclinic.org.

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