Fed Chair Jerome Powell said yesterday that recent development in coronavirus vaccine is “certainly good and welcome news for the medium term.” However, “significant challenges and uncertainty remain about timing, production, distribution and the efficacy for different groups” of a vaccine.
“From our standpoint it is too soon to assess with any confidence the implications of the news for the path of the economy especially for the near term,” he added. “The next few months could be challenging.”
“We’ve got new cases at a record level. We’ve seen a number of states begin to reimpose limited activity restrictions, and people may lose confidence that it’s safe to go out,” Powell acknowledged. “We’ve said from the beginning that the economy will not fully recover until people are confident that it’s safe to resume activities involving crowds and people.”
