Dr. Anthony Fauci, the chief medical advisor to President Biden, says that those inoculated with COVID-19 vaccines should continue to observe coronavirus restrictions.
While vaccination increases one’s safety, Fauci says it’s not the same as having a pass to live like it was the pre-pandemic period. His comments come as the death toll from the CCP virus in the US breaches 500,000.
“There are things, even if you’re vaccinated, that you’re not going to be able to do in society… For example, indoor dining, theaters, places where people congregate. That’s because of the safety of society… We are still at an unacceptably high baseline level,” Fauci said at a White House media briefing. The data isn’t clear about whether vaccinated people can transmit the virus to unvaccinated people. Since this information is unknown, it is better to continue wearing masks and observing other safety protocols like social distancing.
Fauci believes that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) should issue guidance for vaccinated people. The guidance would involve relaxed recommendations, especially for inoculated people within the same family.
On Feb. 11, it issued an advisory saying that people who have received the second shot of the vaccine and have experienced no symptoms of COVID-19 after more than two weeks need not observe quarantine rules.
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Concerning wearing masks, Fauci believes that the practice may have to be followed by Americans even in 2022 despite the possibility that the United States will achieve some normalcy by the end of this year.
President Biden has insisted that Americans wear masks; he even issued an executive order in January. It is in total contradiction to former President Trump, who refused to mandate mask-wearing nationwide.
In New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo has announced the opening of movie theaters by early March. Starting mid-March, the state will also allow indoor weddings and other catered events, provided that the number of people at an event is restricted to 150.
Fauci advises waiting until Fall
Fall starts in September; by this time, a significant portion of the American population will be vaccinated, so it would be better to reopen the theaters then, he said. Fauci terms the coronavirus pandemic as the worst thing that has happened to the U.S. in one hundred years. Even though America only has four percent of the global population, it accounts for 20 percent of all worldwide coronavirus deaths. The U.S. has registered more than 28.8 million coronavirus infections; the cases per million population is 86,973.
There have been reports that only one dose of the Pfizer vaccine is enough to protect a person against the CCP virus. Currently, Washington is administering two shots of the vaccine to every individual. However, Fauci believes that it is safer to go with clinical trials. Two shots are necessary for the best possible protection against the coronavirus and its variants.
“We know for sure that when you give a prime with the Pfizer followed by a boost 21 days later that you get a 94% to 95% efficacy and the difference between the level of antibodies after one dose versus two doses is about tenfold higher… And that is really important because when you have that high a degree comparable to the single-dose alone, that’s the cushion that you would like to have when you get a variant that isn’t as well-protected against by the antibodies induced by the vaccine, but you have enough level to be able to prevent at least severe disease,” he said in the interview.