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Washington – Dr.Anthony Fauci, chief medical adviser to President Biden, said on Sunday that it was “almost inexplicable” that some Americans continue to resist being vaccinated against COVID-19 despite reports showing that those who have not received their vaccines are at a higher risk of becoming infected, especially as the Delta variant spreads.
“It’s almost inexplicable why people, when they see the data in front of them, don’t get vaccinated,” Fauci said in an interview with “Face the Nation”.
Almost 68% of American adults have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, but new coronavirus infections and hospitalizations have started to increase as the new Delta variant has become the dominant strain of coronavirus in the United States
Dr Rochelle Walensky, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), said Thursday that the latest data reveals “two truths” about the state of the pandemic in the country: where vaccination rates are high, cases, hospitalizations and deaths remain. low and in areas with low vaccination rates, these numbers are increasing.
Fauci, the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, warned on Sunday that the Delta variant is transmitted “much more easily and more easily and efficiently” than other coronavirus variants and said 99.5% of all deaths due to COVID-19 are in unvaccinated people.
“You are talking about something that saves lives,” he said of vaccines. “The idea of why some people, for whatever reason, and we know some of them are ideological, we know when you look geographically in situations where you have under-vaccinated states where you have 30% or less of the vaccinated people, we “We really have to go beyond that and we have to put those kinds of differences aside and say that this is a public health issue.”
Fauci called it “very, very frustrating” that some Americans do not get vaccinated despite data showing that the risk of infection is low for those who are vaccinated. But the landscape in the United States, he said, underscores the need for “trusted messengers” like family physicians, religious and community leaders, and sports figures to educate people on the importance of getting vaccinated. .
“We have more vaccines in this country than we know what to do with, anyone and anyone can get the shot, and we have people all over the world who would do anything to get the shot because that they appreciate the importance of protecting their health, ”he said. .
As the Biden administration continues its campaigns to increase vaccination rates in areas of the country where they remain low, Pfizer, which has developed one of the two-dose vaccines administered in the United States, said Thursday it considering asking an emergency use authorization from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for a booster in the coming weeks after evidence shows the vaccine’s immunity wanes.
But the FDA and CDC said in a joint statement that Americans who have been fully immunized do not need a booster “yet.”
Fauci said it was “entirely conceivable, perhaps likely” that at some point people would need reminders, although this could depend on factors such as age or underlying conditions. . But any recommendation on booster shots will come from federal health agencies based on data from laboratory and clinical studies, he said.
“Right now we are getting full geared to do boosters if we need them,” Fauci said.
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