'We're still planning on eight months. That was the calculation we made. This rollout will start on the week of September the 20th,' Fauci told NBC's Chuck Todd on Sunday.

'But as we've said all along, Chuck, in the original statement, that's the plan that we have, but we are open to data as they come in.

'We're not changing it, but we are very open to new data as it comes in. We're going to be very flexible about it.' 

The news comes as COVID-19 cases, and deaths, continue to spike, with 38,341,339 total cases reported as of Wednesday. Meanwhile, the Center for Disease Control reports a 7-day average of 142,006 cases for this week - nearly a three percent increase since last week, where the average stood at 138,087 cases.

The current 7-day average is a whopping 107.2 percent higher compared to the peak of 68,522 cases observed on July 20, 2020. 

Meanwhile, the current 7-day average of new deaths, 864, has increased 11 percent compared with the previous 7-day average of 779 last week. So far, there have been a total of 637,000 deaths nationwide that were caused by the virus since the onset of the pandemic back in March 2020, the CDC reports.

Fauci added that the coronavirus booster shot is still pending formal approval from the Food and Drug Administration, as well as an Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's advisory committee. 

Both have offered guidance that booster shots - a third for people who received Pfizer or Moderna's vaccine, and a second for patients who had the one-shot Johnson & Josnson vaccine - be administered eight months after completion.