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As soon as the Food and Drug Administration issues full approval for a COVID-19 vaccine, there will be “a flood” of vaccine mandates at businesses and schools across the country, Dr Anthony Fauci told the committee on Friday. USA TODAY editorial staff.
The warrants won’t happen at the federal level, but vaccine approval will embolden many groups, he predicted.
“Organizations, businesses, universities, colleges that have hesitated to mandate locally will feel a lot more confident,” he said.
“They can say, ‘If you want to come to this college or university, you have to get the vaccine. If you want to work in this factory, you have to get the shot. If you want to work in this company, you have to get the shot. . If you want to work in this hospital, you have to get the vaccine. ‘”
Fauci said he does not foresee any further blockages to come. They were issued at the start of the pandemic to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed, known as ‘flattening the curve’.
“The reason for the shutdown was that the hospital system would not be able to handle the increase in the number of cases because everyone was getting sick,” he said.
With more than 70% of adults having received at least one dose of the vaccine, the epidemic has shifted to one of the unvaccinated, he said.
“When you walk into a hospital, what you are going to see is a lot of young people, some of whom are seriously ill, but you do not see an overwhelming overshooting of the capacity of hospitals all over the country,” he said. declared. noted.
Lies, untruths and death
Although he comes under attack online and in the conservative media every day, Fauci said, he worries less for himself than for the nation as a whole.
“It’s a dystopian world we live in,” he said. The public is inundated with lies and misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines, he said, and “they are being misled.”
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As COVID-19 cases increase among the unvaccinated as the highly contagious delta variant spreads, Fauci hopes that people’s “best angels” will outweigh the sea of lies on social media.
Americans, he hopes, will say, “I’m not taking any of this. I see everyone around me getting sick and dying. Just let me go ahead and get the shot.”
Protect children
The delta variant has highlighted the danger of COVID-19 for young children. In Tennessee, the Department of Health predicts that the state’s children’s hospitals should be full by the end of next week.
State Health Commissioner Dr Lisa Piercey said the delta variant spreads rapidly in children, who quickly show symptoms after possible exposure, which may equate to an incubation time. much faster than previous versions of the virus.
Children under 12 are not yet eligible for the vaccine, so the adults around them should be their protection, Fauci said.
In schools, everyone should be vaccinated, he said, teachers, assistants, janitors, “anyone who is near a child in what should be the protected environment of a school.” .
Because in today’s political environment, that won’t happen, Fauci said, masks are the next best thing. Schools are crucial for the mental health and intellectual, physical and social development of children, so it is important that they remain open.
“I would rather a child be a little uncomfortable with a mask and be healthy than a comfortable child without a mask in an intensive care unit,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense to me not to want to protect children. “
A “smoldering” future for the United States
The epidemic in the United States could be over once and for all if everyone gets vaccinated, Fauci said. Other than that, he’s worried we’re here for the long haul.
“You will get a smoldering level of infection that will go through the fall, merge with the flu in the winter and come back in the spring,” he said.
The unvaccinated will continue to get sick and some will die. Young and healthy people are statistically unlikely to become seriously ill if they are infected, but they do not live in a vacuum, he said. The more people who are infected, the more likely the virus is to mutate into an even more dangerous variant.
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“All of a sudden, your decision not to get vaccinated is beyond your own vacuum and is influencing society,” he said.
This is also true for the world – unless the virus is stopped everywhere, it will continue to mutate and could come back in a form that can escape current vaccines.
It is different from many vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, which do not mutate. And that’s why getting vaccines to the rest of the world is crucial.
“If we are protected against measles here and there are a million cases of measles in Afghanistan or India or Uganda or Kenya and someone comes here, it almost doesn’t matter. But if we are protected against a group of variants (COVID-19) and a bizarre variant emerges somewhere in a low- or middle-income country, then we are vulnerable, ”he said.
Fauci ended by pointing out that while COVID-19 vaccines are not perfect, they do one extraordinarily good thing: prevent people who contract COVID-19 from becoming seriously ill or dying.
“The reason for getting vaccinated is not to be able to move around without wearing a mask,” he said. The reason is “because we don’t want you to end up in intensive care. And I can 99% guarantee that if you get the vaccine, you won’t end up in intensive care ”.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Dr.Anthony Fauci: COVID Vaccine Requires Following Full FDA Approval
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