Essential California January 22, 2021 Good morning, and welcome to the Essential California newsletter. It’s Friday,Jan. 22, and I’m writing from Los Angeles. Dr. Anthony Fauci has returned to the White House. After being largely sidelined during the final months of the Trump administration, the nation’s top expert on infectious diseases was back in the White House Briefing Room on Thursday, delivering an update on the coronavirus and answering questions from reporters. The briefing came shortly after Fauci met with President Biden. Fauci also stood by the president’s side as Biden signed a number of executive orders on the pandemic. In his first full day in office Thursday, President Biden moved swiftly to try to assert control over the nation’s pandemic response. As my D.C. colleague Chris Megerian reports, Biden signed 10 executive orders, including directives to boost the production of vaccines, ensure they reach hard-hit communities and set up more locations where Americans can receive shots. But, as the president warned, things will probably continue to get worse before they get better. As Chris reports, Fauci said that he hopes to see between 70% and 85% of Americans vaccinated by summer’s end. If that effort is successful, Fauci said, he believes the country “will be approaching a degree of normality” by the time we get to the fall. [ Here in California, the state is running critically low in COVID-19 vaccine doses, as people over 65 struggle to secure limited appointments. As my colleagues report, county officials say they have most of the resources — large vaccine centers and personnel to run them — but lack the doses they need.