Fauci says he doesn’t see US forcing COVID-19 vaccination on the general public

Anthony FauciAnthony Fauci Dozens of public health officials step down amid pandemic of coronavirus vaccine candidate Novavax begins phase two trials Trump’s ‘failure’ on COVID-19 will be central message of Biden convention MORE, the country’s top infectious disease expert, said on Tuesday he did not see the United States imposing a COVID-19 vaccine.

“I don’t think you’ll ever see a vaccine warrant especially for the general public,” Fauci said in a live interview with Healthline.

Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, noted that some workplaces, especially those in healthcare, might prevent employees from coming to work or interacting with patients if they are not. have not been vaccinated against influenza.

Schools generally require that students be vaccinated against measles and other infectious diseases before they are allowed to attend classes.

But Fauci said he “would be quite surprised if you commissioned him for any element of the general public.”

There are several candidate vaccines in clinical trials, and some show promise for providing a level of protection against COVID-19.

Although no vaccine has yet been approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), experts are already wondering how to convince the American public to get vaccinated.

Reluctance to immunize has been a public health concern for several years, particularly among parents of young children, in part because of the rise in misinformation on social media.

Polls have also shown that people of color are less likely to want to be vaccinated, which experts believe could be explained by mistrust of a public health infrastructure that has a history of abuse. and discrimination.

One of the most famous examples of the abuse of people of color in the healthcare system is the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, in which African-American men were told they were receiving free healthcare. from the United States Public Health Service. In fact, they were infected with syphilis and were not treated.

People of Color Still Face Racism in Health Care Settings and Disparities in Access to Health Care in the United States

A Gallup poll released earlier this month found that one in three Americans would not get a COVID-19 vaccine available today if it was free and approved by the FDA.

Sixty-seven percent of white Americans said they would receive the vaccine, compared to 59% of non-white Americans. People living in rural areas were less likely to say they would get the vaccine than people living in small towns, suburbs or large cities.

Asked what the United States might do about people who refuse to be vaccinated, Fauci replied, “They have the right to refuse a vaccine. I don’t think you need a contingency plan. If someone refuses the vaccine to the general public, there is nothing you can do about it. You cannot force someone to be vaccinated. ”