“Americans may need to wear masks again in 2022, even as the country relaxes other restrictions to combat COVID-19,” he said. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease specialist, on Sunday.
While daily infection rates are falling dramatically, thousands of Americans are still dying daily from the virus and less than 15% of the US population has been vaccinated against it.
Vaccinations and statements
President Joe Biden is working to speed up the vaccination campaign for more American adults as local governments call for more doses to prevent the highly contagious disease that has killed more than 500,000 people in the United States.
Fauci, Biden’s top medical adviser, told CNN that the death toll was “a tremendous milestone in the history of this country.”
Asked if Americans should expect to wear masks until next year, Fauci said: “I think that is likely to happen,” adding that it depends on the level of the virus in the communities and the possible variants of the virus.
“Obviously, I think we will have a significant degree of smoothness beyond the terrible burden we have all gone through in the last year,” Fauci said.
In an interview with NBC’s Meet the Press, Fauci said it was too early to say when the United States could reach immunity.
U.S. infectious diseases official Dr. Anthony Fauci said on Sunday that it is possible Americans will still be wearing…
Posted by Reuters on Sunday, 21 February 2021
“We want to talk moderately before we start believing we are out of the woods.”
He told Fox News Sunday that whether people in the United States would need another vaccine later would depend on the course of the South African variant.
While the currently available vaccines seem protective against the British variant that has emerged across the country, they are less protective against the South African variant, which is not yet dominant, he said.
“If this actually becomes more prevalent, we may need to get a version of the vaccine that specifically targets the South African mutation,” Fauci told Fox, adding that studies have already begun.
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