File photo of Dr. Anthony Fauci: Xinhua 

US new COVID-19 vaccine will only be 70 to 75 percent effective, top US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci said during an interview with CNN that was part of the Aspen Ideas Festival and aired Sunday night.

With government support, three coronavirus vaccines are expected to be studied in large-scale clinical trials in the next three months.

Besides the less-than-ideal efficacy, Fauci said the vaccine may "unlikely" get US to herd immunity, following a CNN poll which shows that a third of Americans refuse to get a coronavirus vaccine even if it is widely available and cheap.

"There is a general anti-science, anti-authority, anti-vaccine feeling among some people in this country — an alarmingly large percentage of people, relatively speaking", said the expert. 

(Compiled by Shan Xin)